Elon Musk has once again reshaped SpaceX’s long-term vision, announcing a shift in focus from Mars to building a “self-growing city” on the Moon, citing speed, efficiency, and the future of civilization.

In a post on X on Sunday, Musk revealed that SpaceX is now prioritizing the development of a lunar city over its long-promised mission to Mars.

Musk explained that travel to Mars is only possible when the planets align every 26 months, with a journey taking around six months. In contrast, missions to the Moon can launch every 10 days, with a travel time of just two days, allowing SpaceX to move faster and iterate more quickly.

The announcement marks a significant shift from Musk’s earlier statements. In 2020, he said SpaceX could land humans on Mars by 2026, suggesting that an uncrewed mission could be sent even sooner.

SpaceX has a history of delaying large-scale projects due to technical complexity and regulatory hurdles. Just last week, the company delayed NASA’s Artemis 2 mission, which was set to become the first human Moon mission in over 50 years.

Mars still part of long-term plan

Despite the new focus, Musk clarified that Mars has not been abandoned. He said SpaceX would begin building a Mars city in five to seven years.

“But the overriding priority is securing the future of civilization and the Moon is faster,” Musk wrote, reinforcing his long-held belief in making humanity a multi-planetary species.

Moon bases, factories, and self-growing cities

In an internal memo, Musk outlined plans for self-growing bases and factories on the Moon, describing a scalable approach to off-Earth living.

Alongside lunar development, Musk reiterated his ambition of eventually establishing an entire civilization on Mars.

Last week, Musk announced that SpaceX would acquire xAI, his artificial intelligence company behind the chatbot Grok.

Musk said the deal would create “the most ambitious, vertically-integrated innovation engine on (and off) Earth,” combining AI, rockets, satellite internet, direct-to-device communications, and the social media platform X, which xAI acquired in March 2025.