As SpaceX IPO Nears, Elon Musk Says Moon Comes First While Mars Can Wait

SpaceX is prioritising a self-sustaining Moon city, citing faster launch cycles and a sub-10-year timeline, compared with 20+ years for Mars.

• According to SpaceX, establishing a self-sufficient city on Mars will require upwards of one million people and millions of tonnes of cargo to be delivered to the red planet.
• Musk said that the mission of SpaceX remains the same: to extend consciousness and life to the stars.
• He added that it was much faster to complete a Moon city than a Mars city.

SpaceX has been in the headlines for several weeks, with investors closely watching for signs of an initial public offering by Elon Musk's rocket company later this year. However, the billionaire entrepreneur has now reset his space company's priorities, saying it will, for now, focus on building a city on the Moon rather than on aiming for Mars.

“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 posted late Sunday on X.

Same Mission, Different Destination For Space X

Musk added that the mission of SpaceX remains the same: to extend consciousness and life 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),” he said.

“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,” Musk added in the post.

Musk’s Multiplanetary Dreams

Musk has long envisioned building a city on Mars by 2050 and establishing a human settlement there. According to SpaceX, establishing a self-sufficient city on Mars will require upwards of one million people and millions of tonnes of cargo to be delivered to the red planet.

SpaceX said that by launching more than 10 times per day to maximize transfer windows that open up every 26 months, several thousand Starships will ultimately transfer crew and equipment to build a lasting presence on another world.

Musk has noted that at an average distance of 140 million miles, Mars is one of Earth's closest habitable neighbours. “It is a little cold, but we can warm it up. Its atmosphere is primarily CO2 with some nitrogen and argon and a few other trace elements, which means that we can grow plants on Mars just by compressing the atmosphere,” SpaceX said, according to its website.

The rocket company noted that gravity on Mars is about 38% of Earth's, so one could lift heavy items and move around. Furthermore, the hours of a day are remarkably close to those of Earth, SpaceX added.

SpaceX + XAI Deal

Last week, SpaceX acquired Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI to accelerate “space-based artificial intelligence” ahead of the company’s public debut. The deal aims to harness solar energy from space to power AI applications, as terrestrial solutions cannot meet AI electricity demand, mandating space-based AI.

What Retail Traders Feel About SPACEX

Retail sentiment on SpaceX was in the ‘bullish’ territory, with message volumes at ‘extremely high’ levels, according to data from Stocktwits.

In the last seven days, SPACEX’s page saw a nearly 7% spike in followers on Stocktwits.

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