SpaceX plans $100 billion investment in Louisiana spaceport

Elon Musk's SpaceX plans to invest $100 billion in Starbase Louisiana. The spaceport will occupy coastal land acquired from Exxon in Vermilion Parish. Construction is expected to begin in 2027. Initial flight operations are targeted for 2029. The project would become SpaceX's fourth and largest spaceport. SpaceX has existing launch sites in South Texas, Florida, and California. The Louisiana site will include five launch complexes. It will have 10 launch pads. The facility will include propellant production and storage. It will include power generation. It will include vehicle processing facilities. It will include employee housing. SpaceX's plan calls for thousands of annual launches for Starlink satellite deployments. The plan also covers missions to Earth orbit, the Moon, and Mars. SpaceX estimates the project will create 3,000 direct jobs over 10 years. The company claims an average annual salary of $92,600. Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said the announcement pushes the state beyond $250 billion in new investment. In February, the Federal Communications Commission opened a public review of a SpaceX proposal to deploy as many as one million satellites for orbital data centers.