Founder Elon Musk declared on Sunday that SpaceX has shelved its decades-long ambition to colonise Mars, shifting focus instead to prioritise building a permanent city on the Moon. The decision aligns the company with a shift in US space policy under President Donald Trump.
“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 posted on X, the social media platform he bought in 2022.
South Africa-born billionaire cited practical challenges, noting, “We can launch to the Moon every 10 days,” while a journey to Mars is only feasible during a brief planetary alignment every 26 months. This new lunar focus marks a significant retreat from numerous past, unmet deadlines for reaching the Red Planet.
Musk previously said in 2016 that passenger flights to Mars could begin by 2024. In 2011, he told the Wall Street Journal a crewed mission was “Best case, 10 years, worst case, 15 to 20 years.”
The strategic realignment follows Trump’s recent executive order prioritising a NASA-led American return to the Moon by 2028 via the Artemis programme, for which SpaceX is a key contractor. This supersedes Trump’s earlier vow to reach Mars within his first term.
While NASA’s Artemis 3 mission aims to return Americans to the lunar surface by mid-2027, industry analysts predict further delays, citing SpaceX’s unfinished lunar lander development.
Musk, however, emphasised the Moon’s logistical advantage, stating that easier access “means we can iterate much faster to complete a Moon city than a Mars city.”
He clarified that Martian ambitions are not abandoned, adding SpaceX would “also strive to build a Mars city and begin doing so in about 5 to 7 years.” The announcement has drawn attention from critics who have long labelled Musk’s interplanetary colonisation schemes as unrealistic.
