Elon Musk unveils plan for AI-driven Moon city in under 10 years

• Elon Musk says SpaceX will prioritize a self-growing Moon city within a decade.

• Faster launch cycles and shorter travel times make the Moon more practical than Mars.

• Mars remains a long-term goal, with work expected to begin within five to seven years.

Elon Musk announced that SpaceX has redirected its primary focus from Mars to building a self-growing city on the Moon, a project he believes could be achieved in less than 10 years.

Musk said a comparable settlement on Mars would likely take more than 20 years.

“For those unaware, SpaceX has already shifted focus to building a self-growing city on the Moon,” Musk wrote on X. “The mission of SpaceX remains the same: extend consciousness and life as we know it to the stars.”

Higher chances of success 

Musk emphasized the Moon’s logistical advantages, noting that Mars missions are limited to planetary alignment windows every 26 months, with six-month transit times. In contrast, lunar launches can occur roughly every 10 days, with trips taking about two days.

“This allows us to iterate much faster on a Moon city than a Mars city,” he said, adding that SpaceX still plans to begin work on a Mars settlement in five to seven years. “The overriding priority is securing the future of civilization, and the Moon is faster.”

Self-growing concept

In follow-up posts, Musk framed the shift as a resilience strategy. He warned that a natural or human-made catastrophe on Earth could halt resupply missions, dooming off-world colonies dependent on shipments from Earth.

A lunar city, he argued, could reach true self-sufficiency sooner by using local resources. Musk said the Moon contains enough carbon and hydrogen, drawn from ice and regolith, to support automated construction, life support, and expansion through robotics and artificial intelligence.

“There is enough carbon and hydrogen on the Moon to build a self-growing civilization,” he wrote, noting an added “AI bonus element” through integration with xAI technologies. He stressed, however, that the “prime directive” remains the long-term survival of human consciousness. Musk suggested lunar operations could also generate revenue that accelerates the Mars timeline.

The term “self-growing” refers to an autonomous settlement that expands organically through in-situ resource utilization, advanced robotics, and intelligent systems, reducing reliance on Earth.

NASA ties

Musk’s comments echo a Wall Street Journal report citing sources who said SpaceX told investors it would prioritize the Moon. The company is targeting an uncrewed lunar landing as early as March 2027 while deferring near-term Mars missions previously eyed for late 2026.

The strategy aligns with SpaceX’s role in NASA’s Artemis program. SpaceX holds a roughly $4 billion contract to develop the Starship Human Landing System, which will transport astronauts from lunar orbit to the surface. NASA aims to fly Artemis II, a crewed lunar flyby, as early as March 2026 and Artemis III, the first crewed landing since 1972, by 2028.

The shift marks a reversal from Musk’s stance in early 2025, when he dismissed the Moon as a “distraction” from going “straight to Mars.”

Starship difficulties 

Starship, SpaceX’s massive reusable spacecraft and the backbone of both lunar and Martian ambitions, remains in active testing. The program has suffered setbacks, including explosions during early flights, but new prototypes are in development with another launch attempt expected in March.

The lunar lander variant of Starship is central to SpaceX’s effort to stay ahead of international competitors, particularly China’s rapidly advancing lunar program. Musk said he would congratulate Blue Origin if it lands first but emphasized that the real challenge is delivering “millions of tons of equipment and people” to enable a self-growing city.

Business Situation

The Moon-first strategy comes amid major corporate moves. In early February, SpaceX acquired Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI in a deal described as the largest merger ever, valuing SpaceX at $1 trillion and xAI at $250 billion.

Supporters say the merger could enable space-based data centers for AI, which Musk argues are more energy-efficient than terrestrial facilities as computing demand surges. SpaceX is also preparing for a potential initial public offering later in 2026 that could raise up to $50 billion.

Musk told users on X that NASA contracts account for less than five percent of SpaceX revenue this year, with most income coming from the Starlink satellite internet constellation. Analysts view the lunar focus as pragmatic, offering faster milestones and potential revenue streams before tackling the far costlier and more complex challenge of Mars.

Parallel shifts

Musk is also reshaping Tesla, which plans to invest about $20 billion this year in autonomous driving and humanoid robotics. Last month, Musk said Tesla would pause production of two vehicle models at its California factory to prioritize manufacturing the Optimus humanoid robot.

What's the bigger picture

No humans have walked on the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. The current decade has seen renewed competition, particularly between the United States and China, to return astronauts to the lunar surface.

Musk frames the Moon as both a stepping stone and an insurance policy for humanity, offering a nearby testbed for the technologies and self-sufficiency needed to become a multi-planetary species. While his timelines are widely seen as ambitious, experts note that the Moon’s proximity allows rapid iteration that Mars does not.

For Musk, the destination has not changed. With the Moon now the near-term priority, SpaceX aims to move faster toward its long-stated goal of safeguarding human civilization beyond Earth.