Technology billionaire Elon Musk said on X that SpaceX will now be aiming to colonize the moon instead of Mars, as per an X post.
The update marks a shift in Elon Musk’s ambitions from wanting to initially establish a firm civilization on Mars to creating a livable city on 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,” said Musk on X.
Musk first proposed going to Mars as early as 2001 when he joined the Mars Society’s board of directors. The initial vision for setting up SpaceX was to send humans to Mars, making the new announcement a huge change from the first set of plans for the company.
Fresh off a merger with xAI, SpaceX is reportedly planning for an IPO this year. If successful, the launch on public markets could greatly boost Elon Musk’s net worth which has sky rocketed well above $800 billion previously.
“It is only possible to travel to Mars when the planets align every 26 months (six month trip time), whereas we can launch to the Moon every 10 days (2 day trip time). This means we can iterate much faster to complete a Moon city than a Mars city,” he also said.
“That said, SpaceX will also strive to build a Mars city and begin doing so in about 5 to 7 years, but the overriding priority is securing the future of civilization and the Moon is faster,”
This is not the first time Musk has suggested plans that seem extremely futuristic. At Davos, he made multiple bold plans, including suggesting powering the whole of the United States using solar power and a blueprint for launching solar-powered AI satellites.