Elon Musk said on Sunday that SpaceX has shifted its focus to building a \u201cself\u2011growing city\u201d on the moon, which could be achieved in less than 10 years. <\/p>\n
SpaceX still intends to start on Musk\u2019s long-held ambition of a city on Mars within five to seven years, he wrote on his X social media platform, \u201cbut the overriding priority is securing the future of civilization and the Moon is faster.\u201d<\/p>\n
Musk\u2019s comments echo a Wall Street Journal report on Friday, which said SpaceX has told investors it would prioritize going to the moon and attempt a trip to Mars at a later time, targeting March 2027 for an uncrewed lunar landing.<\/p>\n
This marks a shift from Musk\u2019s long-standing focus on Mars as SpaceX\u2019s primary destination. As recently as last year, he said the company aimed to launch an uncrewed Mars mission by the end of 2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, we\u2019re going straight to Mars. The Moon is a distraction,\u201d he said in January last year in response to a post on X.<\/p>\n
Musk has a long record of setting ambitious timelines for projects such as electric vehicles and self-driving technology that have repeatedly failed to materialize on schedule.<\/p>\n
Race with China<\/p>\n
The U.S. faces intense competition from China to return humans to the moon this decade. Humans have not visited the lunar surface since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.<\/p>\n
Less than a week ago, Musk announced that SpaceX acquired the artificial intelligence company he also leads, xAI, in a deal that values the rocket and satellite company at US$1 trillion and the artificial intelligence outfit at $250 billion.<\/p>\n
Proponents of the move view it as a way for SpaceX to bolster its plans for space-based data centers, which Musk sees as more energy efficient than terrestrial facilities as the demand for compute power soars with AI development.<\/p>\n
SpaceX is hoping a public offering later this year could raise as much as $50 billion, which could make it the largest public offering in history.<\/p>\n
On Monday, Musk said in response to a user on X that NASA will constitute less than five per cent of SpaceX\u2019s revenue this year. SpaceX is a core contractor in NASA\u2019s Artemis moon program with a $4 billion contract to land astronauts on the lunar surface using Starship.<\/p>\n
\u201cVast majority of SpaceX revenue is the commercial Starlink system,\u201d Musk said.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, Musk shared the company\u2019s first Super Bowl ad, promoting its Starlink Wi-Fi service.<\/p>\n