SpaceX will build a second Starbase in Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, on a former Exxon property on the Gulf Coast, and it puts the price at $ 100 billion.
The company describes it as a self-sustaining spaceport with its own propellant production, power generation, deep-water shipping, vehicle processing, and an airport, which is a fair description of why it has been hiring natural gas traders.
A hundred billion dollars is roughly the market capitalisation of a large industrial company, committed to a single site, by a business that only listed on public markets this year.
That listing is presumably how it gets paid for. SpaceX raised $75bn in the largest IPO in history in June, and a project of this size explains rather a lot about why the company wanted that much capital.
Construction is scheduled to begin in 2027, with SpaceX targeting a first Starship launch from the site in 2029. Louisiana Economic Development is more cautious, putting initial operations at 2030.
