SpaceX will invest up to $100 billion to build a huge new Starship spaceport, dubbed "Starbase Louisiana," along the state's Gulf coast, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry announced. The facility is intended to replicate and vastly expand on the company's existing Starbase in southern Texas, giving SpaceX room to build the multiple launch towers it needs to support its long-term ambition of launching dozens of Starship rockets daily, including for a planned constellation of orbital data centre satellites.

The Louisiana site, in an area known as Pecan Island, spans roughly 125,000 acres compared with Starbase Texas's 350 acres, and SpaceX would face no competition for launch range access, unlike at its Florida site. SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell said the facility would include propellant production, power generation, deep-water shipping, vehicle processing and an airport, while using only a small portion of the land and working to protect surrounding wetlands and combat coastal erosion. Construction is planned to begin in 2027, with a first launch targeted for 2029; the land became available following a legal settlement over pollution and coastal damage lawsuits against ExxonMobil.