MW Why SpaceX is putting a 'self-growing' city on the moon over Elon Musk's Mars dreams

By William Gavin

It could take more than two decades - and a lot of cash - to settle the Red Planet. The moon is a somewhat easier target.

SpaceX plans to use its Starship megarocket to lead efforts settling the moon and Mars.

SpaceX is pivoting away from Elon Musk's dream of colonizing Mars and is instead focusing on something a little closer: settling the moon.

"For those unaware, 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," Musk announced on Sunday.

Musk's newfound focus on the moon may come as a surprise to some, since the SpaceX CEO has in the past dismissed the idea of diverting resources away from a Mars effort. Last year, he said that stopping at the moon would just slow down a Mars mission and called the moon a "distraction."

But he's also discussed using SpaceX's enormous Starship rocket to eventually enable repeated travel to the moon, usually to establish a permanent "moon base."

He's mentioned the concept at least as far back as 2017, when he told a crowd at the International Space Station Research & Development Conference that a moon base is necessary to get the public "fired up" about space travel.

Now, Musk may be looking to get investors fired up as SpaceX plans to go public later this year and raise some much needed cash. Public companies generally face greater pressure to deliver in the short term. Investors are not often forgiving toward cost-intensive plans that may take years, if at all, to generate returns.

SpaceX is projected to record $23.8 billion in revenue this year, according to estimates from Payload. Most of the revenue comes from the company's satellite-internet business. Musk's plans for orbital data centers alone could cost trillions of dollars annually, analysts have said. And xAI, his artificial-intelligence company which was acquired by SpaceX last week, is reportedly bleeding cash.

Read: Why Elon Musk now says it would be a 'distraction' for SpaceX to go to Mars this year

Musk is betting that those data centers will essentially fund his plans for bases on the moon, as well as a civilization on the red planet and "expansion to the universe," according to a memo announcing the xAI merger. Musk also said factories on the moon could be used to make satellites and deploy them further into space.

But there are a series of technical challenges that need to be overcome, including launch constraints and radiation that could degrade chips used in the data centers. Starship is also still going through testing, with its next launch expected in March.

A moon city would partially meet Musk's desire for a hedge against potential disaster on Earth. For years, he's been open about his concerns that a catastrophic event on Earth could wipe out humanity.

"I'm worried that a natural or manmade catastrophe stops the resupply ships coming from Earth, causing the colony to die out," Musk said on Monday. "There is also an AI bonus element, but the prime directive must be ensuring the long-term survival of consciousness."

Read: Why Musk and other tech leaders think outer space can help solve one of AI's biggest challenges

According to the Wall Street Journal, which reported SpaceX's new focus last week, the company is targeting a March 2027 uncrewed lunar landing. It's competing with Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin for the Artemis III contract, which was previously awarded to SpaceX and opened up last year to foster competition.

NASA expects the mission, which will see astronauts descend to the moon for about a week near its south pole, to occur by 2028. The Artemis II mission was delayed from this month to as early as March, the agency said.

Over the last 13 months, Blue Origin has made waves toward seriously competing with SpaceX, with two successful missions with its New Glenn rocket. It also suspended its space-tourism business to focus on bringing humans to the moon and is reportedly designing a crew-transportation solution that doesn't require orbital refueling, a challenging task that SpaceX needs to overcome.

-William Gavin

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February 09, 2026 13:05 ET (18:05 GMT)

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