Moon Before Mars: SpaceX Sets Its Sights on Building a Lunar City
Elon Musk has revealed a major shift in SpaceX’s long-term space strategy, announcing that the company is now prioritizing the construction of a “self-growing city” on the Moon within the next decade.
In a post shared on X, Musk explained that establishing a permanent lunar settlement could be achieved in under 10 years, while building a sustainable colony on Mars would likely take more than two decades. He emphasized that SpaceX still plans to pursue Mars colonization, with construction expected to begin within five to seven years. However, Musk stressed that securing humanity’s future is the overriding goal—and reaching the Moon is simply faster.
A strategic pivot
The announcement followed reports that SpaceX had informed investors it would prioritize lunar missions over Mars. The company is now reportedly targeting March 2027 for an uncrewed Starship landing on the Moon, aligning more closely with NASA’s Artemis timeline.
This marks a notable reversal for Musk, who once described the Moon as a “distraction” and insisted SpaceX would go straight to Mars. Practical considerations appear to be driving the change: launch windows between Earth and the Moon open roughly every 10 days with a two-day travel time, while missions to Mars occur only every 26 months and require about six months of transit.
The shift comes shortly after SpaceX acquired Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, in a deal valuing SpaceX at $1 trillion and xAI at $250 billion. Musk stated that the merger would help enable self-expanding lunar bases, a full civilization on Mars, and eventually expansion beyond the solar system.
Space-based AI infrastructure
A central element of Musk’s vision involves building orbital data centers to support advanced AI development. SpaceX has filed plans for an “orbital data center system” that could include up to one million solar-powered satellites. Musk believes space-based AI infrastructure is the only viable way to scale powerful computing systems for the future.
The integration of xAI brings technologies such as the Grok chatbot and Colossus supercomputers under the SpaceX umbrella, forming what Musk describes as one of the most ambitious vertically integrated innovation ecosystems ever created.
Artemis challenges and the road ahead
Musk’s lunar ambitions arrive as NASA’s Artemis program faces delays. Artemis II, the first crewed mission to orbit the Moon since 1972, has been postponed due to a hydrogen leak discovered during testing. The launch is now expected no earlier than March.
SpaceX remains a key contractor for NASA’s Human Landing System, which will transport astronauts to the lunar surface during Artemis III, currently planned for mid-2027. Whether SpaceX’s independent lunar city plans will complement or compete with NASA’s timeline remains uncertain.
What is clear, however, is that SpaceX is reshaping its roadmap—and the race to build humanity’s first off-world city may now begin on the Moon rather than Mars.
