Abstract:
SpaceX announced that it will build a second launch base in Louisiana, USA, to serve the "Starship" super-heavy launch vehicle. The project is located on land formerly owned by ExxonMobil, marking the end of a seven-year site selection process by the company. The new facility will be located in Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, on the Gulf Coast, west of New Orleans and about a 10-hour drive from SpaceX's existing "Starbase" in southern Texas.
SpaceX stated that the total investment scale of the project will reach 100 billion US dollars, and it plans to start construction in 2027 and strive to complete the first starship launch in 2029.
However, the Louisiana Economic Development Department, which is responsible for investment promotion and economic development, has given a more cautious timetable: the project is expected to start before the end of 2027, and preliminary operations are expected to be online in 2030.
Before the new base can actually undertake launch missions, SpaceX still needs to prove that the starship can successfully enter low-Earth orbit and achieve reusability similar to Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets. Since 2023, Starship has completed 13 test flights; although the project has made progress in many key research and development links, there is still a lot of work to be done before mature operations.
The upcoming 14th test flight may be SpaceX’s first opportunity to send the upper stage of the starship into orbit. However, the company has yet to return both the first-stage booster and the upper-stage spacecraft to the launch pad in the same mission, which is the basic condition for the true reuse of the starship. Even if it accomplishes that goal, SpaceX must still verify that it can recover, refurbish, and launch the vehicle again quickly enough to meet its aggressive goal of performing multiple Starship launches per week.
Although technical verification has not yet been completed, SpaceX has fully focused its development on starships. Company founder and CEO Elon Musk recently stated that SpaceX will retire the Falcon series of rockets once the Starship can fly multiple times a week. This statement also confirms previous reports that the company has begun to signal to potential customers that the Falcon rocket program is coming to an end.
According to documents submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, SpaceX has invested more than $8 billion in starship research and development. As the largest and most powerful rocket ever built, Starship is crucial to maintaining and expanding SpaceX's only current profitable business - Starlink satellite Internet services. At the same time, SpaceX also plans to build a satellite network for artificial intelligence processing tasks, and starships will be an important vehicle for deploying such satellites.
The Louisiana Economic Development Department estimates that the new "Interstellar Base" will directly create 3,000 jobs in the next 10 years, with an average annual salary of approximately US$92,600; during the peak construction period, the number of construction-related jobs is expected to exceed 30,000.
It is unclear whether SpaceX will create a community with the characteristics of a "company town" around the new base, as it did in Texas. The area in Texas formerly known as Boca Chica has been renamed "Starbase" and has an independent postal code, a volunteer fire station, and is building its own police force and community library; most of the members of the local government agencies are SpaceX employees or their family members.
SpaceX stated in the announcement that it hopes to build the Louisiana project into a "self-sufficient spaceport" with supporting facilities including propellant production, power supply, deep-water shipping capabilities, aircraft processing facilities and airports.
However, the Texas "Star Base" has also attracted attention due to security issues in the past. As a hybrid between a launch site and a large construction site, the site has consistently experienced high injury rates over the past decade and is one of the highest accident risks among SpaceX operating sites, with the company reporting hundreds of workplace injuries to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. In May this year, a construction worker hired by a third-party contractor fell to his death at the base.
Vermilion Parish Police Jury Chairman Chad Vallow said in a statement that this project will bring diversified employment opportunities to the local area and is expected to allow the local young generation to stay and work in their hometown.
SpaceX has also been criticized in recent years for ecological and environmental issues surrounding its Texas base, and has been involved in related legal disputes. The Louisiana Economic Development Department stated that SpaceX has communicated with the state Wildlife and Fisheries Department, Coastal Conservation and Restoration Administration and other relevant state government agencies to proactively assess and respond to the possible impacts of the project on wildlife, fisheries and their habitats.
In addition, SpaceX said it is working with state and federal agencies to expand projects related to Louisiana’s Coastal Master Plan and Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act, including the construction of Gulf Coast breakwaters to weaken wave energy to slow local coastal erosion.
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