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SpaceX founder Elon Musk revealed that the company has already redirected its near-term priorities toward building a “self-growing city” on the Moon, citing faster development timelines compared to Mars.

In a post on X, Musk wrote:“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.”

Musk argued that the Moon’s proximity enables launches roughly every 10 days with a two-day transit, versus Mars’ 26-month launch windows and six-month journeys, allowing for rapid testing and iteration of technologies such as in-situ resource utilization, landing systems, and habitats.

The announcement represents a clear pivot from Musk’s earlier emphasis on Mars as the primary goal. SpaceX’s public website and updates continue to reference both lunar operations (including support for NASA’s Artemis program) and eventual Mars settlement.

SpaceX is actively testing and developing the Starship launch vehicle at Starbase in south Texas. Today, the company shared that it performed a cryogenic proof test to assess structural integrity of the next Super Heavy rocket booster that will propel a Starship to orbit this year (pictured below).

Cryoproof operations complete for the first time with a Super Heavy V3 booster. This multi-day campaign tested the booster's redesigned propellant systems and its structural strength pic.twitter.com/RpMQ1DoT5x

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) February 10, 2026

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