Thousands of planned launches, terms of deal, worry some near Louisiana SpaceX site
State officials say a new SpaceX site near Abbeville, Louisiana will represent a $100 billion investment and launch thousands of rockets. Lawmakers helped ease regulations, and negotiations were conducted under nondisclosure agreements. The secretive process has raised concerns among local residents and observers about transparency and the scale of the planned operations.
The Atomic take
A $100 billion investment and the promise of thousands of launches would make Abbeville one of the busiest spaceports in the country, but the regulatory rollbacks and nondisclosure agreements mean residents are being asked to accept that scale without knowing the terms. The gap between what state officials have signed and what the public can verify is the real problem here, especially for people living under future flight paths. Watch for whether the actual deal documents get released and how federal launch licensing responds to a cadence that dwarfs current SpaceX operations.
Read the full story at NPR →Know where humanity is headed.
Five forces, one investment thesis a day. Free, every weekday morning.
Get The Atomic Five