Musk: SpaceX to Build ‘Self-Growing’ Moon City in 10 Years

Image: SpaceX

SpaceX is reordering its interplanetary roadmap, with Elon Musk now saying the company is prioritizing building a self-sustaining city on the Moon ahead of its long-stated ambition to colonize Mars.

In a series of posts on X, Musk explained that the shift is largely about speed, iteration, and risk reduction. “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,” Musk wrote, reiterating that the company’s core mission remains unchanged: “extend consciousness and life as we know it to the stars.”

The Moon, Musk argued, offers a much faster development loop. Unlike Mars, which only aligns with Earth every 26 months and requires a roughly six-month journey, lunar missions can launch far more frequently. “It is only possible to travel to Mars when the planets align every 26 months… whereas we can launch to the Moon every 10 days (2 day trip time),” he said. That cadence allows SpaceX to iterate rapidly on hardware, life-support systems, and surface infrastructure in a way that simply isn’t possible with Mars missions today.

That doesn’t mean Mars is off the table. Musk stressed that both efforts will run in parallel. “Mars will start in 5 or 6 years, so will be done in parallel with the Moon, but the Moon will be the initial focus,” he wrote. The Moon, however, would serve as a faster way to establish a permanent foothold beyond Earth. “The Moon would establish a foothold beyond Earth quickly, to protect life against risk of a natural or manmade disaster on Earth,” Musk added.

Interestingly, Musk also downplayed the Moon as a refueling hub for Mars. “We would continue to launch directly from Earth to Mars while possible, rather than Moon to Mars, as fuel is relatively scarce on the Moon,” he said.

The pivot comes as SpaceX continues to make rapid progress on Starship, the fully reusable rocket system that underpins both lunar and Martian ambitions, while also pushing forward on other massive initiatives. The company recently cleared a key regulatory hurdle for its plan to deploy more than a million AI satellites, and it has also absorbed Elon Musk’s AI startup xAI, potentially bringing advanced AI capabilities into future space infrastructure, autonomous construction, and off-world data centers.

There’s also a practical, near-term business angle. A Moon-first strategy opens the door to commercial payloads, government missions, research partnerships, and even early lunar tourism, all of which are far more feasible than six-month journeys to Mars. As Musk put it succinctly, “The overriding priority is securing the future of civilization and the Moon is faster.”