Elon Musk just gave his space plans a massive reality check. For years, the SpaceX founder has obsessed over sending people to Mars, but now he says the company is focusing on building a “self-growing city on the Moon” first. Musk argued on X that the lunar target is much faster and easier to reach. He believes SpaceX could finish a moon city in less than ten years, while doing the same on Mars would take at least twenty.
This is a huge U-turn for Musk. Only last year, he called the Moon a “distraction” and insisted SpaceX would go straight to Mars. Now, he admits the logistics simply make more sense. The Moon is much closer to Earth, and launch windows open up far more often. There is also a major technical benefit: lunar soil is rich in oxygen. Since NASA proved we can extract that oxygen, SpaceX could save a fortune by not having to ship heavy tanks of breathing air from Earth.
Of course, Musk is famous for setting ambitious timelines that he never actually meets. Back in 2017, he claimed settlers would be on Mars by 2024. That obviously didn’t happen. Now, his new schedule suggests that work on Mars will start in about five or six years and run at the same time as the Moon project. He currently predicts a manned flight to the Red Planet might finally happen by 2031.
SpaceX is already a key partner for NASA’s own lunar goals. The government’s Artemis program aims to put humans back on the Moon’s surface by 2028. The next big step for that mission happens very soon. This March, the Artemis II mission will send astronauts to circle the Moon before returning home. By making the Moon the main priority, SpaceX is finally agreeing with experts who say we need a “practice run” nearby before we try to survive on a planet months away.
