Tech billionaire Elon Musk recently announced his plans to shift his focus from Mars to building a “self-sufficient city” on the moon. Musk, who has previously detailed his plans to one day colonize Mars, explained that his Texas-based aerospace and artificial intelligence company SpaceX “has shifted its focus to building a self-growing city on the moon.”

He added in an X post on February 8, 2026, that the moon program has a timeline of less than 10 years, while the Mars program is expected to take more than 20 years. Musk further wrote that SpaceX’s mission remains the same, which is to “extend consciousness and life as we know it to the stars.” However, he added that the journey to the moon would be much faster compared to Mars, writing:

“Traveling to Mars is only possible when the planets align every 26 months (six months travel time), whereas we can launch to the moon every 10 days (two days travel time). This means we can iterate through a lunar city faster than a Martian city.”

Musk added:

“That said, SpaceX will also work to build a Martian city and start doing that in about 5 to 7 years, but the first priority is ensuring the future of civilization, and the Moon is faster.”

For those who don’t know, SpaceX has shifted its focus to building a self-growing city on the moon, as we have the potential to achieve this goal in less than 10 years, compared to more than 20 years for Mars. ​SpaceX’s mission remains the same: extend consciousness and life as we know it to the stars. ​Travel to Mars is only possible if the planets align every 26 months (six months travel time), whereas we can launch to the moon every 10 days (two days travel time). This means we can iterate through a moon city faster than a Mars city.​That said, SpaceX will also work to build a Martian city and begin doing so in about 5 to 7 years, but the first priority is ensuring the future of civilization, and the Moon is faster.

Elon Musk’s latest news about SpaceX’s moon mission received mixed responses from netizens on X, with one user questioning:

“Is there no space left on Earth?”

@elonmusk Is there no space on earth anymore?

Some netizens made similar comments, wondering whether space missions are important given Earth’s current climate crisis.

@elonmusk So we’re fast-running a moon city because Mars is “too slow”… and without a decade of paperwork and atmosphere we still can’t build affordable housing on Earth?

@elonmusk Why not just focus on keeping the planet habitable?

@elonmusk How about this?​Do we collectively stop screwing up the planet we live in in the first place?Let’s not plunder its resources and make it uninhabitable before we go elsewhereSurely this is an option?

Others seem skeptical Musk Decided to focus on the Moon instead of Mars and wondered what caused this change.

@elonmusk This definitely seems easier and more achievable. There must be a reason why you chose Mars before: What has changed? Something to do with the moon? Or what do you know about Mars?

@elonmusk Is the lunar environment suitable for building a city or even just a base? Can the base be self-sufficient in resources? If the earth still needs to provide resources, isn’t that a waste of resources?

@elonmusk Honestly disappointing. SpaceX’s entire mission is to colonize Mars. Now we’re turning to the moon. What’s the point? To be honest, I don’t see the advantages.

However, some users seemed to think the lunar mission was a good idea, calling it a “great starting point for going to the moon.” Mars“.

@elonmusk @JoeTegtmeyer makes sense! Better use of time and resources! A great starting point for going to Mars! LFG! 🔥

@elonmusk makes sense.​There are things to learn from lunar builds + could be a good fuel depot and lower gravity starting point for Mars activity.

Elon Musk recently announced news following SpaceX’s acquisition of xAI

On February 2, 2026, Elon Musk announced the merger of his aerospace company SpaceX and the artificial intelligence company xAI. The acquisition is believed to be worth US$1.25 trillion. Elon Musk said in an internal memo that the merger would help “bring space-based data center become a reality,” which would “fund and enable a self-development base on the moon.”

“The capabilities we unlock by making space-based data centers a reality will fund and support self-development bases on the moon, entire civilizations on Mars, and ultimately expansion into the universe,” he said.

wall street journal first reported space exploration technologies corp.In a report on February 6, 2026, NASA decided to postpone the long-awaited mission to Mars to focus on travel to the moon. The publication reports that the aerospace company expects to achieve an uncrewed moon landing by March 2027.

Given tech billionaire Elon Musk’s ambitions to colonize Mars, his decision to focus on the moon is surprising. In an X post from January 2, 2025, Musk called the moon a “distraction” and said his company was targeting Mars, writing:

“No, we’re going straight to Mars. The moon is a distraction. Orbital mass is the key metric, followed by Mars surface mass. The former would need to be in the megaton-per-year orbital mass range to establish a self-sustaining colony on Mars.”

Elon MuskSpaceX isn’t the only aerospace company that wants to go to the moon. According to reports, NASA hopes to send astronauts on a lunar mission called Artemis-II in early 2026.