Starbase Louisiana: What SpaceX's $100B Plan Means for Lafayette and UL Lafayette

SpaceX is building its newest launch site in the marsh near Pecan Island, about 50 miles south-southwest of Lafayette. The question for Lafayette is practical: when a company says it needs thousands of engineers, technicians and tradespeople, who trains them, where do they live, and which local businesses get the contracts?

What was announced

On Aug. 25, Gov. Jeff Landry and SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell announced Starbase Louisiana at an event in Abbeville. According to Louisiana Economic Development:

• Investment: more than $100 billion.
• Jobs: 3,000 new direct jobs over 10 years, averaging $92,600 a year, plus an estimated 8,100 indirect jobs.
• What gets built: five launch complexes with two pads each, propellant farms, a propellant production facility and employee housing.
• Timeline: construction begins by the end of 2027, with a first launch targeted for 2029.

The Louisiana Illuminator reported the plans also include a power plant, a deep-water port and an airport, on about 125,000 acres of coastal marsh.

UL Lafayette's pitch

UL Lafayette President Ramesh Kolluru was on stage at the announcement. The university plans to train students in mechanical, electrical, computer and aeronautical engineering, data science and AI, and to work with SpaceX and its suppliers on research, Louisiana Radio Network reported.

"There is a research university, a top-tier Carnegie R1 university that's willing and able to partner," Kolluru said, describing plans for new curricula, internships, capstone projects and apprenticeships. The university is also positioning itself as the anchor of a space and innovation corridor between Lafayette and the Vermilion coast.

Lafayette's pitch

Lafayette Mayor-President Monique Boulet framed the project as regional. "Economic development does not stop at parish lines," she said in a statement on Aug. 25, adding that "Lafayette stands ready to be a strong regional partner." Her statement pointed to the city's fiber network, research capacity and growing tech sector as assets that complement Vermilion Parish's land, Gulf access and industrial base.

Lafayette already has pieces of a tech ecosystem SpaceX's suppliers could plug into, including the LITE center for high-performance computing and visualization, the Opportunity Machine incubator and the Lafayette Economic Development Authority.

What hasn't been said yet

A month after the announcement, schools and workforce groups said they still hadn't heard much from SpaceX directly, The Current reported on Sept. 24. At that point SpaceX had posted four Louisiana openings: a civil engineer, two senior managers for construction and government affairs, and a real estate attorney. Local institutions said they had not received detailed job descriptions.

"From a workforce development perspective, the SpaceX project is going to be a gold mine," Mandi Mitchell of the Lafayette Economic Development Authority told The Current. But the specifics that training programs need, such as which trades, which certifications and on what schedule, weren't public yet.

There is a data point from Texas. About 84% of SpaceX's jobs at its Brownsville-area site are held by people living within 70 miles, The Current reported. A local economic development leader there cautioned that aerospace welding requires "specialized training that exceeds typical manufacturing."

The hiring timeline is slower than the headline

The 3,000-job figure is a 10-year target. Under the agreement with Vermilion Parish's Industrial Development Board, required staffing starts at 18 to 180 employees in the first three years, counted from 12 months after all launch-pad permits are issued, The Current reported on Oct. 2. That gives Acadiana's schools time to build programs, but it also means the biggest hiring wave is years away. We break down the numbers in Starbase by the Numbers.

Questions Lafayette's leaders can ask now

1. Which job categories will SpaceX hire for first, and what credentials does each need?
2. Will SpaceX co-design programs with UL Lafayette and South Louisiana Community College, and commit to hiring their graduates?
3. How will local suppliers get on SpaceX's vendor lists?
4. Where will workers live during construction, and who pays for roads between Lafayette and Pecan Island?

We'll keep tracking the answers. Related: how the tax deal works and the coastal questions.

• Space
• Startups
• Lafayette