Moon was a distraction and Mars the goal for billionaire SpaceX chief – could Trump have influenced his U-turn?
Barely a year ago, the moon was “a distraction” to Elon Musk, the billionaire chief executive of SpaceX then fixated on his ludicrously ambitious project to build a self-sustaining city on Mars within 20 years.
Why bother returning to the orbiting chunk of rock humanity conquered half a century ago, he reasoned, when the greater prize of the red planet lay tantalizingly in reach for his company’s mighty Starship rockets?
Fast forward to February 2026, and the world’s richest man appears to have had something of an epiphany. In an abrupt reversal of his long-stated plans, Mars is suddenly on the back burner. And getting US astronauts back on the lunar surface before the end of Donald Trump’s second term of office in three years’ time is the priority now, as well as keeping them there.
“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 Sunday on X, the social media platform he also owns.
