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<\/a>.<\/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