SpaceX Will Build a Big New Rocket Site
The new site in Louisiana will cost $100 billion.
SpaceX is a rocket company. Elon Musk is the owner.
The company will build a very big new site in Louisiana, in the south of the United States.
It will cost $100 billion. Work will start next year.
The site is called Starbase, Louisiana. It will be the biggest rocket site in the world.
SpaceX wants to send rockets from the new site in 2029. The rockets will go to the Moon and to Mars.
The site will give more than 3,000 people a job.
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SpaceX to Build $100 Billion Launch Site in Louisiana
The company says its biggest site yet will send rockets to the Moon and Mars from 2029.
Elon Musk's rocket company SpaceX has announced that it will build its largest launch site yet in the US state of Louisiana.
The project is called Starbase, Louisiana, and it will cost $100 billion (£73 billion). Construction will start next year on a site of 125,000 acres. SpaceX already has sites in Texas and Florida.
The company says the new base will support thousands of flights of its Starship rocket every year, with missions to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars "and beyond". The first Starship flight from Louisiana is planned for 2029.
SpaceX says the site will create more than 3,000 jobs. The local development agency says it will also create about 8,100 other jobs in the area, and that workers at the base will earn much more than the current average salary in the region.
SpaceX started selling shares on the stock market in June. Since then, the company has announced several big projects, including a $16.8 billion factory in Texas to make AI chips.
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SpaceX Announces $100bn Louisiana Launch Site, Its Largest Yet
Starbase, Louisiana is due to begin construction next year and launch its first Starship flight in 2029.
Elon Musk's rocket company SpaceX has announced plans to build its largest launch site yet in the southern US state of Louisiana. The $100bn (£73bn) project, named Starbase, Louisiana, is due to start construction next year on a 125,000-acre site.
The facility will expand SpaceX's operations beyond its current headquarters in Texas and its launch sites in Florida. The company said on Tuesday that it would "support thousands of Starship flights a year with missions launching to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond", and that it aims to launch the first Starship flight from Louisiana in 2029.
According to SpaceX, the base will add more than 3,000 direct jobs to the region. The Louisiana Economic Development agency estimated that a further 8,100 jobs would be created indirectly, and said the average wage at the site would be 192% higher than the region's current average salary.
The announcement comes two months after SpaceX began trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange in the largest stock market debut in history. Its shares have fallen by more than 30% from their early highs but remain above the $135 offer price, and the newly listed company is under pressure to show investors that its ambitious expansion can be profitable.
Musk has set out far-reaching goals for SpaceX, including reaching Mars, developing artificial intelligence models and launching data centres into space. Earlier in August, SpaceX and Tesla announced a $16.8bn AI chip-making complex in Texas.
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