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SpaceX will focus on building a city on the moon before undertaking a mission to colonize Mars, owner Elon Musk has said.
He announced the shift in focus in a post on X.
“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,” the SpaceX owner said on the social media platform X.
Musk said his mission to “extend consciousness and life as we know it to the stars” remains unaltered, but he added that it would be easier and quicker to begin with the moon.
“It is only possible to travel to Mars when the planets align every 26 months (six month trip time), whereas we can launch to the Moon every 10 days (2 day trip time),” he said.
“This means we can iterate much faster to complete a Moon city than a Mars city.”
Musk said he believes the work of building a city on Mars could begin within five to seven years.
The Epoch Times notes, “Musk’s decision further aligns his company with goals mandated by Congress, which were not just to beat communist China back to the moon by 2030 but to establish a human presence either on the lunar surface or in lunar orbit by 2028.
“That mandate was made clear to Jared Isaacman as he appeared before members of the Senate on his way to becoming NASA’s latest administrator. President Donald Trump has also expressed his vision for the United States to return U.S. astronauts to the moon and secure the first manned landing on the surface of Mars. Isaacman expressed confidence that both goals could be pursued simultaneously, while meeting Congress’s deadline.”
SpaceX is currently working on a lunar lander system for the NASA Artemis III mission, which is slated to land humans on the moon again in 2028.
