What is Starbase, Louisiana?

Starbase, Louisiana is a SpaceX Starship launch and manufacturing campus announced on August 25, 2026 for Pecan Island in Vermilion Parish, Louisiana. SpaceX has committed $100 billion to the roughly 125,000-acre site, which is planned to hold five launch complexes of two Starship towers each. It is SpaceX's second Starbase after Starbase, Texas.

Where is Starbase, Louisiana?

On Pecan Island in Vermilion Parish, on the coast of southern Louisiana, about 29 miles south of Abbeville, 47 miles south of Lafayette and 142 miles west of New Orleans. It is roughly 384 miles east of Starbase, Texas in a straight line.

When will Starbase, Louisiana launch its first rocket?

SpaceX has targeted 2029 for the first Starship launch from Louisiana, with construction beginning in 2027. Both dates are stated targets rather than scheduled events. As of September 2026 nothing has been built and no completed environmental review or FAA launch licence has been announced.

Can you visit Starbase, Louisiana?

No. There is nothing built on the site and no public access, viewing area or visitor facility has been announced. This is unlike Starbase, Texas, where State Highway 4 runs past the build site to a public beach.

How big is Starbase, Louisiana compared to Starbase, Texas?

Far bigger by area. The Louisiana site covers roughly 125,000 acres, about 195 square miles, against two orbital pads at Boca Chica. Louisiana is planned for ten launch pads and more than 30 Starship flights a day at full build, which SpaceX says would make it the largest launch site on Earth.

SpaceX’s Second Starbase

Starbase, Louisiana

Phase: AnnouncedNothing built. No ground broken. First launch targeted 2029.

Above: SpaceX concept render of the proposed site at full build. Nothing shown exists.

CommittedCommitted: $100B
AcresAcres of coast: 125,000
PadsLaunch pads planned: 10
Flights/dayFlights a day at full build: 30+
JobsDirect jobs: 3,000
TargetFirst launch target: 2029

Where the project stands

What Was Announced

On August 25, 2026, SpaceX and Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry announced a $100 billion Starship launch and manufacturing campus on Pecan Island in Vermilion Parish. Nothing has been built. Every fact below names its source.

Today

Image placeholder

Pecan Island as it is now

A wide, horizon-led photograph of the undeveloped marsh, so it sits against the render beside it. Public-domain USGS or NOAA coastal imagery would work; check the licence.

Empty coast

125,000 acres of marsh. No ground has been broken.

What it is
SpaceX's second Starbase
A Starship launch and manufacturing campus, announced jointly by SpaceX and Governor Jeff Landry on August 25, 2026. It is SpaceX's fourth U.S. launch location and the second site to carry the Starbase name.
Source: Louisiana Economic Development
Where
Pecan Island, Vermilion Parish
About 125,000 acres of coastal Louisiana, roughly 29 miles south of Abbeville and 47 miles south of Lafayette. That is around 195 square miles, and it is marsh and open coast rather than a town.
Source: Louisiana Economic Development
Scale
Five complexes, ten pads
At full build the site is planned as five launch complexes of two Starship towers each, every complex with its own propellant farm. Elon Musk has said it will ultimately carry more than a dozen towers.
Source: NASASpaceflight
Flight rate
30+ Starship flights a day
The figure SpaceX has stated for full buildout, which would make it the busiest launch site on Earth. It is a target for a site that has not broken ground, not a rate anyone has flown.
Source: NASASpaceflight
Investment and jobs
$100 billion, 3,000 jobs
Louisiana Economic Development puts the direct hiring at 3,000 jobs over ten years at an average salary of $92,600, which it calculates as 192% of the Vermilion Parish average wage.
Source: Louisiana Economic Development
Public access
None, and none announced
There is nothing built, nothing to see, and no announced public viewing. Unlike Texas, where State Highway 4 runs past the build site to a public beach, no equivalent public road or vantage point has been described.
Source: SpaceNews

Last reviewed September 5, 2026

Where It Is

Pecan Island sits on the open Gulf coast of southern Louisiana, roughly a third of the way from Texas to the Mississippi delta. It is marsh and coastline rather than a town, and it is a long way from the Starbase people know.

Starbase, TexasBoca Chica, straight line: 384 mi
Abbeville, LANearest parish town: 29 mi
Lafayette, LANearest city: 47 mi
New Orleans, LANearest major airport: 142 mi
Houston, TXNearest Texas metro: 177 mi

Straight-line distances from the centre of the announced site. No pad location has been published.

How Big It Is

Three numbers do the work, and all three are hard to feel in a sentence: how many towers, how much ground, and how often it is meant to fly. Each is drawn to scale, against the Starbase you already know.

Launch towers

Starbase, Texas

Built and flying

Starbase, Louisiana

Planned, none built

Ground

8.6×: the size of Manhattan, and bigger than the city of New Orleans.

Flight rate

Starbase, Texas

Every flight ever flown

Starbase, Louisiana

One day, at full build

30+

Texas figure is this site’s own flight log. The Louisiana figure is SpaceX’s stated target for a site that has not broken ground.

Image placeholder

Site plan: five complexes, ten pads

A diagram of the announced layout, if SpaceX or Louisiana Economic Development publishes one. Until then this stays a placeholder rather than a guess: no pad locations have been made public.

How Long It Will Take

One thing has happened and everything after it is a stated target. The only evidence anyone has for whether those targets hold is what the last one cost, and Boca Chica took 8.6 years.

Aug 25, 2026Happened
Announced
SpaceX and Governor Jeff Landry announce a $100 billion Starship campus on Pecan Island in Vermilion Parish.
2027Target
Construction begins
The stated start for site work. Nothing has broken ground, and no permit or environmental review has been reported as complete.
2029Target
First launch targeted
SpaceX's stated target for the first Starship flight from Louisiana. Read it as an ambition: Starbase Texas took roughly five years from first land purchase to first orbital-class flight.

What the last one took

Starbase, Texas

What it took

8.6yr

Groundbreaking, Sep 2014 to First orbital-class flight, Apr 2023

Starbase, Louisiana

What is planned

2yr

Announced Aug 2026 to First launch targeted 2029

Groundbreaking to first flightAnnounced, not yet started

The Questions Everyone's Asking

One of them has an answer. Most do not, and three years of anticipation with almost no new facts is exactly the gap rumour fills.

A Starship rolls past the SpaceX Starfactory at Starbase, Texas, with Boca Chica beach and the Gulf beyond. — Starbase, Texas
Still building, still flying

Is SpaceX Leaving Starbase, Texas?

No. Nothing in the August 2026 announcement describes reducing or closing Starbase, Texas. Louisiana is described as an additional campus and SpaceX’s fourth U.S. launch location. Starship is still built and flown from Boca Chica, road closures still run on Highway 4, and the flight programme there continues.

Starbase, Texas status right now The Starship flight log

What is not known yet

Will the public be able to watch a launch?: Unknown. No public viewing area, road, or vantage point has been announced. Texas is watchable because a state highway and a public beach happen to run past the pad; nothing published says Louisiana has an equivalent.
Has it been permitted or environmentally reviewed?: Not reported as complete. A launch site of this size needs FAA licensing and environmental review, and neither has been announced as finished. This is the step most likely to move the 2027 and 2029 dates.
Where exactly will the pads be?: Unpublished. The announcement names roughly 125,000 acres on Pecan Island, not pad coordinates. Any specific location circulating now is someone's guess.
Will Starbase, Louisiana become a city?: Not announced. Starbase, Texas incorporated as a Texas city in 2025. Nothing published describes a similar plan for Vermilion Parish, though the announcement does include employee housing.

Frequently asked

What is Starbase, Louisiana?: Starbase, Louisiana is a SpaceX Starship launch and manufacturing campus announced on August 25, 2026 for Pecan Island in Vermilion Parish, Louisiana. SpaceX has committed $100 billion to the roughly 125,000-acre site, which is planned to hold five launch complexes of two Starship towers each. It is SpaceX's second Starbase after Starbase, Texas.
Where is Starbase, Louisiana?: On Pecan Island in Vermilion Parish, on the coast of southern Louisiana, about 29 miles south of Abbeville, 47 miles south of Lafayette and 142 miles west of New Orleans. It is roughly 384 miles east of Starbase, Texas in a straight line.
When will Starbase, Louisiana launch its first rocket?: SpaceX has targeted 2029 for the first Starship launch from Louisiana, with construction beginning in 2027. Both dates are stated targets rather than scheduled events. As of September 2026 nothing has been built and no completed environmental review or FAA launch licence has been announced.
Can you visit Starbase, Louisiana?: No. There is nothing built on the site and no public access, viewing area or visitor facility has been announced. This is unlike Starbase, Texas, where State Highway 4 runs past the build site to a public beach.
Is SpaceX leaving Starbase, Texas?: No. Nothing in the August 2026 announcement describes reducing or closing Starbase, Texas. Louisiana is described as an additional campus and SpaceX's fourth U.S. launch location. Starship is still built and flown from Boca Chica, and the flight programme there continues.
How big is Starbase, Louisiana compared to Starbase, Texas?: Far bigger by area. The Louisiana site covers roughly 125,000 acres, about 195 square miles, against two orbital pads at Boca Chica. Louisiana is planned for ten launch pads and more than 30 Starship flights a day at full build, which SpaceX says would make it the largest launch site on Earth.

Sources

Everything on this page comes from these. We are not affiliated with SpaceX and have no inside information about this project.

Louisiana Economic DevelopmentState announcement, jobs and investment figures
SpaceNewsSite description and programme context
NASASpaceflightComplex layout, tower counts and flight-rate target
FortuneScale of the commitment
TechCrunchAnnouncement-day reporting
U.S. Census BureauLand areas used in the size comparison
Space.comBoca Chica groundbreaking, 22 September 2014

Starbase, Louisiana