---
title: "Elon Musk: Noisy Starship Spaceports Will Be 20 Miles Offshore"
description: "67"
date: "2019-11-05"
modified: "2019-11-05"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-starship-spaceports-offshore"
categories:
  - "Elon Musk"
  - "Future Society"
  - "Space"
  - "SpaceX"
  - "Starship"
  - "The Industrialists"
tags:
  - "elon musk"
  - "SpaceX"
  - "Starship"
  - "the digest"
---

# Elon Musk: Noisy Starship Spaceports Will Be 20 Miles Offshore

![In a Monday tweet, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk explained that Starship spaceports will need to be 20 miles offshore because of noise.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/elon-musk-starship-spaceports-offshore.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: SpaceX\</em\>*

## Travel by Rocket

It's been [more than two years](<https://futurism.com/elon-musk-spacexs-bfr-rocket-will-do-more-than-take-us-to-mars>) since SpaceX announced its plans for long distance travel onboard what it now calls its Starship. The promise: rocketing up to [1,000 people](<https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-big-falcon-rocket-like-disney-space-mountain-2019-6>) anywhere on Earth, no matter how far, in under one hour — an experience [Musk likened](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-starship-disney-space-mountain>) to Disney's Space Mountain ride earlier this year.

SpaceX has since made [a ton of progress](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/spacex-final-starship-prototype-design>) on Starship. And in a [Monday tweet](<https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1191496935250616321>), SpaceX CEO Elon Musk dropped a new tidbit: Starship spaceports will "probably need to be \[about\] 20 miles offshore for acceptable noise levels, especially for frequent daily flights."

## Ten Years

COO Gwynne Shotwell confirmed that the company is still committed to its plans for a transportation system involving Starship in a [May 2018 TED Talk](<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dar8P3r7GYA>).

"This is definitely going to happen," she said, adding that it would probably take roughly ten years.

## Spaceport Shuttle

So how will passengers get from the city to these offshore spaceports? Musk suggested in a [May 2018 tweet](<https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/996691566851801088>) that SpaceX will use underground shuttles.

It's a futuristic vision. But even with ten years, SpaceX has a lot of work to do. The company has yet to launch a fully-equipped Starship rocket, after all, let alone one with passengers on board.

**READ MORE:** [Starship: here’s where SpaceX will build those inter-Earth spaceports](<https://www.inverse.com/article/60677-starship-here-s-where-spacex-will-build-those-inter-earth-spaceports>) \[*Inverse*\]

**More on Starship:** *[SpaceX “Definitely” Plans to Land Starship on Moon by 2022](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/spacex-land-starship-moon-2022>)*

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)