The Linde Air Separation Plant is a facility under construction in Brownsville, Texas by global industrial gas supplier Linde for the production of Liquid Oxygen (LOx), Nitrogen and Argon expected to come online in 2026.
It was initially thought that due to the lack of news on an air seperation plant at Starbase, the use of its planned footprint at the time as a permanent staging area for Pad B (Starbase) and the belief that there was insufficient power supply (for instance the Linde plant being built in Brownsville requires a 3-megawatt power supply) , that the primary objective of the project was to facilitate the production of commodities for SpaceX's super heavy lift Starship Launch System out of Starbase with significant cost savings by cutting the currently roughly 10 hour trip from Houston down to under 2 hours.[1] due to its location at 7245 Industrial Circle, Lot 6, on a 72-acre site at the North Brownsville Industrial Park, which is on average around a 43 minute drive away from Starbase.[2]
However since work began on a new Starbase Air Separation Plant, the purpose of the plant in relation to SpaceX operations is now uncertain.
History[]
SpaceX initially planned to construct its own air separation plant, first at the Sanchez Site and later at the Starbase Launch/Testing Site. However, these plans were abandoned due to several challenges, including the lack of a sufficient electricity supply and practical constraints such as the plant's proximity to the launch pad. Consequently, Linde decided to build an air separation plant to supply SpaceX, reducing the transport time for liquid oxygen and nitrogen from approximately 10 hours to under 2 hours. To meet the plant's requirement of a 3-megawatt power supply, Linde chose a location away from Starbase.
Although construction at the site began earlier, Linde was officially announced as the operator in early June 2025, when it was confirmed that the facility under construction was an air separation plant.
On the 23rd of July 2025, SpaceX began constructing there own air seperation plant at Starbase, bringing into question some of the assumptions made in regard to the purpose (in relation to SpaceX) of the Brownsville facility by Linde.
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