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Elon Musk says SpaceX will focus on building a city on the Moon before Mars
Elon Musk reveals SpaceX's shift in focus towards establishing a self-sustaining city on the Moon, aiming for a major uncrewed Moon landing by March 2027.
Elon Musk said on Sunday that SpaceX is now giving more importance to building a self-sustaining city on the Moon, a goal he believes could be reached within the next 10 years.
He said the company still plans to work on his long-time dream of creating a city on Mars in the next five to seven years, but added that settling the Moon first is a faster and more practical step to protect the future of humanity, reported news agency Reuters.
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Musk’s statement matches a recent report that SpaceX has told investors it will focus on Moon missions before attempting Mars. The report said the company is aiming for an uncrewed Moon landing by March 2027. Earlier, Musk had said a Mars mission without humans could happen by the end of 2026.
The push to return to the Moon comes as the United States competes with China to send humans there again this decade. No human has walked on the Moon since NASA’s Apollo 17 mission in 1972.
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Last week, Musk announced that SpaceX had acquired his artificial intelligence company xAI in a major deal. Supporters believe this move could help SpaceX develop space-based data centres, which Musk says use less energy than those on Earth as demand for AI computing grows.
SpaceX is also considering a public listing later this year that could raise up to $50 billion, making it the biggest initial public offering ever, said the report.
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Musk said NASA will make up less than 5 per cent of SpaceX’s revenue this year, even though the company has a $4 billion contract under NASA’s Artemis programme to land astronauts on the Moon using its Starship rocket. He added that most of SpaceX’s income comes from its Starlink satellite internet service.
(With inputs from Reuters)
