Elon Musk Shifts Focus from Mars to Establishing Permanent Moon Base as Near-Term Priority

Washington D.C.  American billionaire businessman Elon Musk has announced that he is pushing back his long-term ambition of establishing a human settlement on Mars, making the construction of a permanent human base on the Moon his immediate priority.

In a post on the social media platform X on Sunday, he stated that SpaceX is now targeting the creation of a self-expanding city on the Moon.

He mentioned that while establishing a similar settlement on Mars could take more than 20 years, it might be achievable on the Moon within 10 years. He noted that planetary alignment for Mars travel only occurs every 26 months, with the journey taking about 6 months, whereas launches to the Moon are possible every 10 days, with arrival in just two days. He did not specify what he meant by a "self-expanding city." It was also not clarified how closely this plan aligns with NASA's lunar program.

Musk clarified that he has not completely abandoned the plan to build a city on Mars, stating that work towards that goal will commence within five to seven years. Back in May, he claimed that SpaceX would land the first uncrewed Starship on Mars by the end of 2026. In recent years, Musk has consistently argued that Mars is an 'insurance policy' for human existence, asserting the necessity of a permanent colony to survive a potential catastrophe. However, NASA's priority is the Moon. Although the goal under former US President Donald Trump's first term was to return to the Moon by 2024, NASA has now extended this target to 2028. If successful, this will be the first human landing on the Moon since Apollo in 1972.

Musk had previously called NASA's Artemis program a distraction and stated he would go directly to Mars. However, he has now changed his stance. Against the backdrop of this shift, SpaceX recently acquired Musk's other company, xAI, which is preparing to become the world's most valuable private company.

SpaceX has a contract worth approximately $3 billion with NASA for the lunar landing, under which Starship will be used as the lunar lander. This is the same system Musk is also designing for the Mars mission.