Posted on 08/25/2026 11:39:29 AM PDT by SmokingJoe
SpaceX has just officially announced Starbase, Louisiana, a new $100+ billion spaceport in South Louisiana near Pecan Island.
Construction starts in 2027, with the first Starship launch from the new site planned for 2029.
Starbase, Louisiana will be built to support thousands of Starship flights a year. This self-sustaining spaceport will have propellant production, power generation, deep-water shipping capabilities, vehicle processing facilities, and an airport.
SpaceX is committed to investing at least $100 billion and creating more than 3,000 new jobs at Starbase, Louisana hiring heavily from nearby communities and utilizing Louisiana workers’ extensive experience of building complex infrastructure in their unique environment.
In Vermilion Parish, the shoreline is eroding between 3.3 and 23 feet per year. SpaceX is partnering with state and federal agencies to expand Louisiana’s Coastal Master Plan and Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act projects, including Gulf shoreline protection breakwaters designed to reduce wave energy and slow loss along the Gulf edge.
(Excerpt) Read more at x.com ...
If on LA’s delta, will the location permit launches due or east-northeast? South-eastern trajectories if there is a launch/booster problem would be open until the missile is over FL west coast. Now, from south TX, there is only a very narrow “window” between FL tip, Cuba, and several of the independent islands.
When I feel like a nut I use the nut. When I have to pee I use the khan. 😉
Number one visitor to this new Starbase, will be hurricanes and tropical storms.
Mother nature says that, it’s going to win the battle for that shoreline, no matter how much effort man makes to restore whatever gets damaged.
No — due east or east-northeast launches are not expected to be practical or permitted as primary trajectories from the planned SpaceX Starbase Louisiana site.
nola.com
The upcoming facility (announced August 25, 2026) is a large Starship-focused spaceport in coastal Vermilion Parish near Pecan Island / Freshwater Bayou Canal (southwest of Lafayette, on the Gulf of Mexico marshland). It is intended as a high-cadence site with multiple pads, supporting thousands of launches per year, with construction targeted for 2027 and first launches as early as 2029.
arstechnica.com
Launch direction constraintsPreferred / practical azimuths are southerly, roughly in the 115°–190° range (southeast to south-southwest). These keep the vehicle over open Gulf of Mexico water for a long stretch during ascent, with only a distant potential overflight of sparsely populated areas of Mexico (e.g., near the Yucatán or further) far downrange. This geometry supports polar, near-polar, and sun-synchronous orbits—useful for certain Starlink/AI satellite constellations—and mirrors the open-water approach used from Starbase Texas.
kpel965.com
Due east (~90°) or east-northeast would generally head over or near populated parts of Louisiana (including toward the New Orleans area) and other land. Experts note this would be unpopular and problematic for range safety/overflight reasons, so it is not viewed as a viable primary corridor.
nola.com
Official comments highlight the site's access to a “wide range of trajectories” and its southward-facing Gulf Coast location as advantages (especially versus purely equatorial paths from Texas or Florida). However, detailed geographic analysis consistently emphasizes the open-water southern corridor as the key safe path, with eastward options constrained by land and population. Final FAA licensing, range safety, and environmental approvals will define exact allowable azimuths, but the site's geography strongly favors south-oriented launches over due-east or east-northeast ones.
arstechnica.com
In short, the Louisiana Gulf Coast location is well-suited for high-inclination (polar-type) missions via southern trajectories but is not set up like Florida's Eastern Range for routine due-east launches.
Good inference, thank you. (The near-polar orbits were a direction I did not think of.)
I would think in Louisiana it would be P-can.
PEE-can is a rusty metal bucket out behind the barn!
Rock on, Elon!!
**********
Yes.
I never heard it pronounced that way in the part of Southwest Louisiana where I grew up.
PEE’-can
PEE’-kin
pic-KAHN?
So which Island is it?
It’s Puh-KAHNS where I come from.
So now, it’s the Cajun Space Force?
$100 billion investment.
Each employee needs to generate $33 million in revenue - just to break even.
Sounds like a very big reach to me.
Wonder what?will happen with Starbase Texas down in Boca Chica.
Pecan is: Pee Khan. That is how it is said around here.
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