SpaceX and the state of Louisiana are close to finalizing a deal for the launch company to acquire about 130,000 acres along the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico. There have been persistent rumors about such an agreement for months, but now The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate reports that Louisiana Gov. The deal would give SpaceX control of an 18-mile stretch of marshland southwest of Lafayette. So why would SpaceX be interested in a remote, marshy location in southern Louisiana? And there are limited expanses of undeveloped coastal locations along the Gulf of Mexico and southern Atlantic Ocean in the United States.