Investing.com -- SpaceX plans to start building an eight-mile natural gas pipeline next month to supply its Texas launch facilities, according to county filings. The pipeline, named Starpipe, will support launches of the company's Starship rocket.

The pipeline will connect to SpaceX's Texas company town of Starbase and is expected to begin operations by January 26, according to a document filed last month with the Texas Railroad Commission by SpaceX affiliate Lone Star Mineral Development.

The 40-story Starship rocket uses about 630,000 gallons of liquid methane per launch. SpaceX currently delivers this fuel using hundreds of tanker trucks in a process that takes several hours. The company has completed 12 test launches of Starship since 2023 and aims to increase the launch rate to dozens, hundreds, and eventually thousands per year.

SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said on June 12 that the company planned to build pipelines and process its own propellant. She also mentioned the company was looking into drilling its own natural gas.

SpaceX has signed over 100 oil and gas leases with Texas property owners since 2023, according to land records.

The pipeline will start on an 83-acre piece of land at the Port of Brownsville that SpaceX is negotiating to lease from the city for 50 years, a port official said.

Engineering plans SpaceX filed with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers show the company wants to build a liquefaction facility at Starbase to convert the piped natural gas into liquid methane.

Starship is central to SpaceX's plans to expand its Starlink broadband network, deploy orbital AI data center satellites, and carry astronauts to the moon and Mars.