Starbase Louisiana update 6-7-26
I mean 10-6-26, brain fart!
Even though there will probably not be any visible activity until next year, there was so much interest and positive responses, I decided to go ahead and provide more views of the new site in Vermilion parish.
These were shot today 10/7/26 from between 3500 and 4500 feet.
The first shot is from Abbeville looking southwest towards the coast just to set the stage. Abbeville is 31 nautical miles from the Freshwater inlet which appears to mark the easternmost boundary of the actual launch site.
The second is looking southwest towards Freshwater docks. The dredges are working, but I have been informed this was already scheduled before the announcement was made. Next is a closer look at the inlet and then northward along the Freshwater highway (La 3147). The road is in pretty poor shape, but there was an announcement this week that SpaceX has started permitting for an elevated 4 land heavy access road and upgraded bridges.
I also decided to fly westbound along La 82 at Pecan Island. The community is only about 7 nm northwest of the coast, so like Boca Chica Village, this is where we will probably see the most early development, things like construction camps, support services and such. I don’t know who owns the two large plots of land just north of La 82, but you are sitting on a gold mine if you want to put in an RV park !
Finally, I took a run westbound to check out a private landing strip 3LA4 that is sited between Pecan Island and Grand Chenier La . I had never looked at it before and I’m pretty impressed. It’s 4000 foot paved and looks like there are some newer hangers on the east end. Maybe this is where they were talking about adding an airport?
Finally, I decided to fly over Intracostal City to see if there was any activity there. Until the slowdown after the BP spill, this was a very vibrant and active area for helicopters, ships and barges. But it was pretty much shut down for a while now. Hopefully, we will see a resurgence here as an early indicator of economic growth and recovery.