SpaceX Erects 380-Foot Giga Bay in Texas to Accelerate Starship Production

BOCA CHICA, Texas – SpaceX is constructing a massive new facility known as the "Giga Bay" at its Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, designed to significantly ramp up production and integration of its Starship and Super Heavy rockets. The structure, described by CEO Elon Musk as "one of the largest enclosed volumes on Earth," is a critical component in the company's ambitious plans for rapid Starship manufacturing and launch cadence.

According to a recent tweet from Mario Nawfal, quoting Elon Musk, the Giga Bay is "sort of like a gigantic cube that we are building here for building and storing these gigantic rockets." Musk emphasized its impressive scale, adding, "It is really spectacular and anyone can come and visit. Because we are on a public highway and literally by a public beach, you can actually come and see the rocket."

The Giga Bay is planned to stand 380 feet (116 meters) tall, encompassing approximately 46.5 million cubic feet of interior processing space and 815,000 square feet of workspace. This colossal vertical integration and assembly facility is engineered to support Starship and Super Heavy vehicles up to 81 meters (266 feet) tall. It will feature 24 to 30 work cells for integration and refurbishment, equipped with cranes capable of lifting up to 400 US tons.

This new facility represents a substantial expansion compared to SpaceX's existing Megabay structures at Starbase, offering over 11 times the square footage and 19 additional work cells. Construction of the Giga Bay at Boca Chica began around February 2022 and is targeted for completion by the end of 2026. Its primary purpose is to streamline manufacturing processes, with the long-term goal of enabling the production of one Starship per day, totaling approximately 365 ships per year.

The strategic importance of the Giga Bay lies in its ability to facilitate the rapid assembly and integration of Starship components, crucial for SpaceX's objectives, including lunar missions under NASA's Artemis Program and eventually human travel to Mars. While the primary focus is on the Texas facility, SpaceX also has plans for a similar Giga Bay in Cape Canaveral, Florida, further solidifying its multi-site approach to scaling Starship operations.