WASHINGTON — A little more than a year after dismissing the moon as a “distraction,” Elon Musk says SpaceX will focus on lunar settlement before sending humans to Mars.
In a social media post Feb. 8, Musk said SpaceX was deferring its long-held ambitions of establishing a permanent human presence on Mars, instead devoting resources to creating a “self-growing city” on the moon.
“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-plus years,” he wrote.
Neither Musk nor SpaceX has discussed detailed plans for such a settlement on the moon. The company has instead long been associated with establishing a large-scale human presence on Mars using the Starship vehicle SpaceX is developing.
“Progress is measured by the timeline to establishing a self-sustaining civilization on Mars,” Musk said in a presentation last May at SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Texas, where Starship vehicles are built and launched.
