SpaceX Starbase

Overview

Where Starship Is Built and Launched

The launch site, the Starfactory and Gigabay, Massey's test site, and a new 444-acre site on the port side of Highway 4.

SpaceX Starbase at Boca Chica in Cameron County builds, tests and launches Starship and its Super Heavy booster, the vehicle behind Starlink V3, Starshield, Golden Dome satellites and the Mars program. Starbase incorporated as a city in 2025 and annexed 7,133 more acres in September 2026, growing to about 8,100 acres.

Flight 14 on September 28, 2026 was the first Starship to reach orbit and deployed 26 Starlink V3 satellites. Production is moving from the original high bay to the Starfactory and the Gigabay, and SpaceX's footprint now reaches the Port of Brownsville, next to Saronic's Port Alpha shipyard.

Launch cadence

From 25 Launches a Year to 456

SpaceX has asked the FAA to raise Starbase from 25 Starship launches a year to as many as 456, with two landings per launch for booster and ship. On October 14, 2026 the FAA began a programmatic environmental impact statement with two phases: up to 100 launches a year at any day or time, then up to 456 on weekdays. Scoping meetings run November 17 to 19 in Brownsville, online and in Port Isabel.

At 456 a year, Starbase would launch more than once a day on weekdays. That rate depends on the Gigabay's stacking and refurbishment cells, on propellant from the on-site LNG plant and air separation unit, and on boosters caught back on the tower rather than rebuilt.

Beyond Boca Chica

Starbase Louisiana and Launching at Sea

Starbase Louisiana, announced August 25, 2026, is a second Starbase on the former Exxon property in Vermilion Parish: five launch complexes of two pads each, propellant production, power generation, deep-water shipping, housing and an airport, for at least $100B. Construction starts in 2027 and the first launch is targeted for 2029. Florida is getting three Starship pads.

In July 2026 the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) asked for comment on using the Outer Continental Shelf for launch and re-entry. SpaceX answered on August 7 that it supports offshore launch-and-catch platforms, reopening an idea it had set aside after buying two oil rigs in 2020.

The port side

Minihard and Saronic at the Port of Brownsville

Brownsville removed a 444-acre SpaceX parcel north of Highway 4 from its zoning on August 29, 2026, and Starbase annexed it on September 22. SpaceX told the city commission the site will not host launches or testing. A 24-inch gas line, Port Pipeline 1, serves it from October 2026, eight inches wider than the line feeding the launch site's LNG plant. SpaceX agreed the same night to fund up to $220M of Brownsville water projects; three days later the city began a 90-day data center moratorium process.

Coverage ties the site to Minihard, the modular AI data center SpaceX announced this fall, with about 500 MW of gas turbines reported beside the first building. SpaceX has not confirmed the use. Next door at the Port of Brownsville, Saronic chose 835 acres in July 2026 for Port Alpha, its autonomous ship-building yard. Rocket launch, AI compute and autonomous shipbuilding now share one ship channel.

The supplier ring

The Starbase Supplier Ring

Starbase builds most of Starship itself; the ring is the metal, valves, gases and cranes it buys.

• United States
• Europe
• Japan

The ring maps 69 suppliers. Of those, 14 are SpaceX's own operations at Starbase, from the Starfactory and ring yard to the propellant farm and air separation unit. Nine more sit in Brownsville and Cameron County, among them AEP Texas, the Port of Brownsville and the LNG terminals; 41 of 69 are in Texas.

The rest is the domestic aerospace and heavy-industry base: stainless from North American Stainless and Outokumpu, nickel alloys from Haynes and Special Metals, valves from Marotta, Moog, VACCO and Valcor, and robots from FANUC, KUKA and ABB. Every row is a US plant; the European and Japanese colors are parent companies.

Shared across anchors

Suppliers Shared With Other Texas Anchors

Tesla Giga Texas and SpaceX Bastrop share the most with Starbase, 7 companies each. With Bastrop it is the factory floor: FANUC, KUKA, ABB, Rockwell and Beckhoff robots and controls, and TE Connectivity and Amphenol interconnects. With Giga Texas it adds the gas and grid base, Air Liquide, Linde and Quanta Services, which turns up around nearly every anchor in Texas.

The Texas footprint

Starbase in the SpaceX Texas Footprint

Engines come from McGregor, satellites from Bastrop and silicon from Terafab; Starbase is where they leave the ground.

Constraints

Permits, Water and Housing

Permits. Every cadence step needs FAA approval under federal environmental law, and the launch site borders the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge. The deluge system runs under a state wastewater discharge permit issued in February 2025 after notices of violation.

Water and housing. SpaceX's $220M Brownsville water commitment covers potable reuse and expansion of the Southmost brackish groundwater plant. Housing and services in Cameron County were sized for a much smaller industrial base than Starbase, Port Alpha and the LNG terminals are bringing.

Related coverage

Related Coverage

• SpaceX McGregor Engine Factory
• SpaceX Bastrop Complex
• Saronic Technologies
• Golden Dome Texas Corridor
• Rio Grande Valley Nexus
• Texas LNG Export Hub