SpaceX announced that it had selected a former Exxon site in Louisiana, United States, to build a second launch base for a “starship” rocket. This means that outside Texas, the company has begun to lay out a second set of infrastructure for follow-on high frequency (HF) launches by Starfleet.

$100 billion project landing road state

The new base is located on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, Louisiana, west of New Orleans. According to SpaceX, the total investment in the project would amount to $100 billion and construction was planned to start in 2027 and to complete the first launch of the starship in 2029.

However, the Economic Development Department of Louisiana has given a more cautious pace. The Agency indicated that construction was expected to start before the end of 2027 and that the initial operating time was expected to be 2030.

According to official disclosures, this base is more than a single launch site. SpaceX hopes to make it a “self-sufficient” space port, which will include propellant production, power systems, deep water shipping capabilities, aircraft handling facilities and airports.

Starfleet still hasn't completed critical verification.

Despite the announced landing of the new base, the Starfleet project itself is in the validation phase. Since 2023, SpaceX has completed 13 test missions to starships, albeit at a faster pace, but at a significant distance from the formation of a stable, reusable launch system.

The forthcoming 14th test flight may be the first attempt to put the upper stage of the ship into orbit. To date, however, SpaceX has not completed both boosters and upper stages of the launch site during the same mission. This is the basis for achieving a true reuse of starships.

Even if this goal is achieved, SpaceX will need to prove that the ship can be re-launched at a sufficiently rapid rate of refurbishment and turnover. The company has previously proposed the goal of carrying out a number of starship missions in the future.

Starfleet is considered the next stage of core power.

SpaceX did not slow down its input to the ship. Mask indicated last week that the existing Falcon series would gradually be decommissioned once the ship had been able to fly more than once a week. This also confirms earlier reports that SpaceX has communicated to potential clients about the withdrawal of the Falcon project.

According to documents submitted to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, SpaceX has invested more than $8 billion in starship research and development. For the company, the Starships relate not only to heavy launch capabilities but also to the expansion of Starlink satellite Internet operations.

It was also mentioned that SpaceX was planning to build a satellite network that would address the needs of AI and that such large-scale deployment would also depend on the capacity of the ship.

Employment and security issues are being addressed in tandem

The Economic Development Department of the state of Louisiana expects that the project will have an additional 3000 direct jobs over the next 10 years, with an average annual salary of approximately $926 million. During the peak construction period, the number of related construction jobs is expected to exceed 30,000.

There is also concern, however, that the new base will in the future replicate the development model of the Texas “Starship Base”. The region in which the Texas base is located has developed a local community led by SpaceX and has continued to expand public facilities and governance capacity.

At the same time, the Texas base has been facing a high rate of injury at work for the past decade. It was reported that this was the most dangerous site in SpaceX operations and that the company had reported hundreds of injuries to the United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration. In May this year, a third-party contractor worker died during the construction of the base.

Additional information:In terms of ecological impacts, Luzhou officials indicated that SpaceX had communicated with the state wildlife and fisheries sector, coastal conservation and restoration agencies, etc., to assess in advance the impact on wildlife, fisheries and coastal habitats. The company also stated that it would work with state and federal agencies to advance projects for shoreline protection and wetland restoration.