Business Desk – SpaceX New Launchpad: Elon Musk's SpaceX is going to build the world's largest Rocket Launch Complex in Louisiana, America. The company will invest 100 billion dollars i.e. about Rs 9.50 lakh crore on this project. 'Starbase, Louisiana' will be SpaceX's second Starbase Campus. From here, the company plans to send next-generation Starship Rockets and AI-based satellites into space.

New spaceport will be built in 1.25 lakh acres

The new spaceport will be spread over an area of ​​about 1.25 lakh acres in Pecan Island, Louisiana. Its size is said to be about 8 times larger than Manhattan in New York. Construction of the project is expected to start from 2029. Here, infrastructure will be prepared on a large scale for high-frequency launching.

More than 3 thousand jobs, average salary will be Rs 88 lakh

Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry has called the project a big step for the state's economy and employment. According to him, the spaceport will generate at least 3,000 direct jobs. The average annual salary of the employees here will be around $92,600 i.e. Rs 88 lakh. This is nearly double the current median income in Vermilion Parish.

Campus will produce fuel and electricity itself

According to SpaceX President Gwynn Shotwell, this campus in Louisiana will be self-sustaining. A facility to produce methane gas for rocket propellant and generate electricity will be developed in the complex. Apart from this, Deep-Water Shipping Port and Vehicle Processing Units will be built for the movement of Starship. Dedicated airport can also be developed as per need.

Target of thousands of Starship launches every year

The biggest focus of this facility will be High-Frequency Launching. According to Shotwell, the goal of the campus is to support thousands of Starship flights each year. However, the actual number will depend on engineering and regulatory approvals.

How will Louisiana Campus be different from Texas Starbase?

Manufacturing and assembly of Starship rockets takes place at SpaceX's Starbase in Texas. In contrast, there will be no rocket manufacturing on the Louisiana campus. The main focus here will be only on Rapid Launch Operations. The geographical location of Pecan Island is also important for this project. From here it will be easy to send rockets to Sun-Synchronous Orbit (SSO). This orbit is considered especially useful for Solar-Powered and Earth-Observation Satellites.

Musk's two big space goals

Through the Louisiana Spaceport, SpaceX plans to pursue two big goals—rapid expansion of the Starlink Constellation and an ambitious plan to deploy one million AI satellites in space.

What is Sun-Synchronous Orbit?

Sun-Synchronous Orbit is such an orbit of the Earth, in which the satellite revolves around the Earth while maintaining almost the same angle with the Sun. This gives the satellite almost uniform lighting conditions when passing over a particular area of ​​the Earth. For this reason this orbit is considered useful for Earth Observation and Solar-Powered Satellites.