‘We are building a self-growing city on the moon’ – Elon Musk reveals

SpaceX founder Elon Musk on Monday disclosed on X that the company has shifted priority from Mars exploration to building a “self-growing city” on the Moon, saying the project could be achieved in less than 10 years.

Musk explained that lunar missions allow faster development cycles, noting that launches to the Moon can happen roughly every 10 days with about two days travel time, unlike Mars missions which only open every 26 months and take about six months to complete.

Despite the shift, Musk said SpaceX still plans to build a city on Mars within the next five to seven years, maintaining the company’s long-term goal of extending human life beyond Earth while prioritising faster pathways to securing civilisation’s future.

His tweet reads:

“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. The mission of SpaceX remains the same: extend consciousness and life as we know it to the stars. It is only possible to travel to Mars when the planets align every 26 months (six month trip time), whereas we can launch to the Moon every 10 days (2 day trip time). This means we can iterate much faster to complete a Moon city than a Mars city. That said, SpaceX will also strive to build a Mars city and begin doing so in about 5 to 7 years, but the overriding priority is securing the future of civilization and the Moon is faster.”