SpaceX CEO Elon Musk says the rocketmaker’s priorities have shifted, as it now aims to build a new city in space closer to Earth.
In a new post on X, Elon Musk says SpaceX has already shifted its focus toward building a self-growing city on the Moon, arguing that it can be achieved far sooner than a permanent settlement on Mars.
“For those unaware, SpaceX has already shifted focus to building a self-growing city on the Moon, as we can potentially achieve that in less than 10 years, whereas Mars would take 20+ years.”
Musk says the change is not a retreat from Mars, but a sequencing decision driven by physics, launch windows, and speed of iteration. He notes that orbital mechanics heavily favor lunar development in the near term.
“The mission of SpaceX remains the same: extend consciousness and life as we know it to the stars. It is only possible to travel to Mars when the planets align every 26 months (a six-month trip time), whereas we can launch to the Moon every 10 days (a two-day trip time). This means we can iterate much faster to complete a Moon city than a Mars city.”
While the Moon now comes first, Musk emphasizes that Mars is still very much part of SpaceX’s long-term vision.
“That said, SpaceX will also strive to build a Mars city and begin doing so in about five to seven years, but the overriding priority is securing the future of civilization, and the Moon is faster.”
Musk’s announcement comes after SpaceX recently announced the $250 billion acquisition of Grok maker xAI. He said that the merger is designed to develop space-based data centers en route to establishing a manufacturing base on the Moon.
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