Musk Shifts SpaceX’s Focus From Mars to the Moon

Elon Musk’s SpaceX simply overhauled its to-do checklist.

In an X submit on Sunday, the CEO mentioned that the corporate is shifting its focus from Mars to making a “self-growing metropolis” on the moon.

“It’s only potential to journey to Mars when the planets align each 26 months (six month journey time), whereas we will launch to the Moon each 10 days (2 day journey time),” Musk wrote. “This implies we will iterate a lot sooner to finish a Moon metropolis than a Mars metropolis.”

The announcement is a giant departure from Musk’s earlier feedback about reaching the purple planet this 12 months.

In 2020, the SpaceX CEO mentioned he was assured that the corporate would land people on Mars by 2026.

“If we get fortunate, perhaps 4 years,” Musk mentioned at an awards present in 2020. “We need to ship an uncrewed automobile there in two years.”

The house firm has traditionally delayed bold initiatives due to their complexity and regulatory challenges. Final week, the corporate delayed the Artemis 2 moon mission, the primary human moon mission in additional than 50 years.

Mars continues to be a part of the plan

In Sunday’s submit, Musk added that SpaceX would proceed constructing a Mars metropolis, beginning in 5 to seven years.

“However the overriding precedence is securing the way forward for civilization and the Moon is quicker,” he wrote.

Final week, Musk introduced that SpaceX would purchase xAI, his AI firm behind the chatbot Grok. XAI bought the social media platform X in March 2025.

The CEO wrote that SpaceX’s xAI acquisition would create “probably the most bold, vertically-integrated innovation engine on (and off) Earth, with AI, rockets, space-based web, direct-to-mobile system communications and the world’s foremost real-time info and free speech platform.”

Within the memo, Musk shared plans to have “self-growing bases” and factories on the moon. He additionally talked about having “a complete civilization on Mars.”