SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced on Sunday (February 8) that the company is shifting its focus towards building a “self-sustaining city” on the moon, stating that this goal could be achieved within the next decade.
Musk discussed this goal on the X social media platform on Sunday, adding, “Nevertheless, SpaceX will also strive to build a city on Mars, with plans to begin doing so in approximately 5 to 7 years, but the most important priority is to ensure the future of civilization and accelerate the construction on the moon.”
Musk’s comments echo a report from The Wall Street Journal last Friday, which stated that SpaceX has informed investors that it will prioritize landing on the moon first before attempting a journey to Mars later on. The current goal is to have an unmanned spacecraft land on the moon in March 2027.
He had previously stated last year that his goal was to execute an unmanned Mars exploration mission by the end of 2026.
In this decade, the United States faces fierce competition in manned lunar exploration from China. Since the last Apollo moon mission in 1972, humans have not set foot on the moon again.
Musk made these remarks following SpaceX’s recent agreement to acquire his xAI company, with the deal valuing rocket and satellite company SpaceX at about $1 trillion and the artificial intelligence startup xAI at about $250 billion.
(This article was based on a report from Reuters)