"In an X post on Sunday, the CEO said that the company is shifting its focus from Mars to creating a "self-growing city" on the moon. "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)," Musk wrote. "This means we can iterate much faster to complete a Moon city than a Mars city.""
"The announcement is a big departure from Musk's previous comments about reaching the red planet this year. In 2020, the SpaceX CEO said he was confident that the company would land humans on Mars by 2026. "If we get lucky, maybe four years," Musk said at an awards show in 2020. "We want to send an uncrewed vehicle there in two years.""
"Last week, Musk announced that SpaceX would acquire xAI, his AI company behind the chatbot Grok. XAI purchased the social media platform X in March 2025. The CEO wrote that SpaceX's xAI acquisition would create "the most ambitious, vertically-integrated innovation engine on (and off) Earth, with AI, rockets, space-based internet, direct-to-mobile device communications and the world's foremost real-time information and free speech plat"
SpaceX is shifting its priority from Mars to building a self-growing city on the Moon, citing faster launch cadence and quicker iteration. SpaceX noted lunar windows allow launches every 10 days with two-day travel versus Mars alignments every 26 months and six-month trip times. SpaceX will continue Mars city development in five to seven years, but the Moon is presented as the faster route to securing civilization's future. Historical timelines and regulatory complexity have delayed ambitious space projects, and SpaceX recently postponed the Artemis 2 moon mission. SpaceX also acquired xAI to integrate AI with rockets and communications.
Read at Business Insider
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