SpaceX Plans a Louisiana Starbase Built for AI and Starships

SpaceX is building Starbase, Louisiana. The company announced plans on August 25, 2026, for a $100 billion launch site on Pecan Island in Louisiana’s Vermilion Parish — a project designed to support Starship flights and AI satellite missions.

The site will cover 125,000 acres, or 195 square miles, making it more than eight times the size of Manhattan. It will include five launch complexes, with two launch pads at each complex, giving SpaceX ten planned launch pads across the property.

Construction will begin in 2027, and production on the site will also begin that year. SpaceX plans the first launch from Starbase, Louisiana, in 2029, assuming the calendar survives contact with reality.

A launch site built around Starship

The Louisiana site will support thousands of Starship flights a year, with missions aimed at Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars, and beyond. SpaceX will launch Starship rockets southward toward the polar regions, adding a new direction and a new base to the company’s launch operations.

Starbase, Louisiana, will include a propellant production facility, power generation, vehicle processing, and residential housing. The plans may also include an airport, although the site will not have rocket production facilities.

The launch complex will expand SpaceX’s operations beyond Texas and Florida, where the company already has facilities. Louisiana will become SpaceX’s fourth site in the United States, adding a major operation to a footprint that already includes its Texas and Florida locations.

SpaceX plans to add more than 3,000 jobs to the region, with an expected average salary of $92,600. Louisiana governor Jeff Landry described the project as a source of jobs, community momentum, and coastal protection — the rare infrastructure pitch that arrives with both payroll and marshland attached.

Coastal restoration and the AI satellite push

The site was previously involved in a lawsuit against ExxonMobil over coastal land loss. ExxonMobil, identified as the previous owner of the site, settled the lawsuit in June 2026.

SpaceX pledged to work with the Louisiana State to restore the area through marshland preservation, wildlife preservation, and storm protection. That commitment places the launch site inside a broader coastal restoration effort, rather than treating the property as an empty rectangle waiting for concrete.

Elon Musk, SpaceX’s CEO, said, “We’re preparing to build a spaceport that, until now, has only existed in science fiction.” Jeff Landry said, “This project means more than just steel, technology, and capital. It represents jobs for our families. It represents momentum for our communities, and it represents protection for our coast.”

Louisiana State said, “The historic project will establish Louisiana as a global hub for next-generation aerospace, with the capacity and infrastructure needed to dramatically increase launch frequency and expand access to space.” The statement matches SpaceX’s stated ambition: build a site large enough to turn Starship launches into a sustained operating system rather than a sequence of isolated missions.

Musk sees Starship as central to expanding Starlink and deploying AI satellites. That goal connects the Louisiana launch site to SpaceX’s wider buildout, which includes AI data centers in Tennessee and Mississippi, Starlink facilities in Austin, Texas, and a planned chip plant in central Texas.

SpaceX’s shares have tumbled by more than 30% from their highs after trading began on Nasdaq. The company is now pairing that market setback with a $100 billion physical expansion, ten planned launch pads, thousands of annual Starship flights, and a site larger than Manhattan eight times over. Subtlety has never been the operating principle.

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