Elon Musk said SpaceX has made building a permanent human settlement on the Moon its primary objective, placing plans for a Mars city on a longer timeline as the company reassesses priorities for space exploration.
In a post on his X social media platform on Sunday, Musk said SpaceX was now focused on creating what he described as a “self-growing city” on the Moon, a goal he said could be achieved in under a decade. He added that while the company still intends to pursue his long-standing ambition of establishing a settlement on Mars within five to seven years, the lunar effort had taken precedence because it could be realised more quickly.
“The overriding priority is securing the future of civilisation and the Moon is faster,” Musk wrote, outlining the rationale for the shift.
His remarks align with a report published by the Wall Street Journal last week, which said SpaceX had informed investors that it would prioritise lunar missions while pushing a Mars attempt to a later date. According to that report, the company is targeting March 2027 for an uncrewed landing on the Moon.
Musk’s comments mark a change from statements made as recently as last year, when he said SpaceX aimed to send an uncrewed mission to Mars by the end of 2026. SpaceX has not publicly provided a revised timeline for Mars beyond Musk’s latest remarks.
The strategic adjustment comes as the United States faces growing competition from China in efforts to return humans to the Moon this decade. No crewed mission has landed on the lunar surface since NASA’s Apollo 17 mission in 1972, and renewed activity has raised the stakes among major spacefaring nations.
Musk’s update on SpaceX’s direction follows a series of recent developments involving his other ventures. Less than a week ago, he announced that SpaceX had acquired the artificial intelligence company xAI, which he also leads. The deal values SpaceX at $1 trillion and xAI at $250 billion, according to Musk.
Supporters of the acquisition have said the move could strengthen SpaceX’s ambitions to develop space-based data centres, which Musk has argued could be more energy efficient than Earth-based facilities as global demand for computing power rises alongside advances in artificial intelligence.
SpaceX is also considering a public listing later this year. Musk has said a potential initial public offering could raise as much as $50 billion, a figure that would make it the largest IPO on record if achieved. The company has not disclosed further details on timing or structure.
Earlier on Sunday, Musk shared SpaceX’s first Super Bowl advertisement, which promoted its Starlink satellite internet service. The move marked a rare foray into high-profile advertising for the company, which has expanded its global broadband coverage in recent years.
Alongside changes at SpaceX, Musk has been steering Tesla, the electric vehicle maker he leads, toward new areas of focus. After playing a central role in building the global electric vehicle market, Tesla is now shifting resources toward autonomous driving systems and robotics.
Musk has said Tesla plans to spend $20 billion this year as part of that transition. Last month, he announced that the company would halt production of two car models at its California factory to free up capacity for manufacturing its Optimus humanoid robots, which Tesla sees as a future growth area.
Taken together, Musk’s comments and recent corporate moves underscore a period of strategic realignment across his companies, as SpaceX prioritises lunar development, Tesla pivots beyond electric vehicles, and investments increasingly centre on artificial intelligence, automation and long-term infrastructure beyond Earth.