Elon Musk, never one to shy away from audacious visions, has taken the space community by surprise once again. After years of declaring the Moon little more than a distraction on the path to Mars, Musk has now pivoted SpaceX’s immediate ambitions to focus on building a "self-growing city" on the lunar surface—a project he claims could be completed in less than a decade. This dramatic reversal, announced on February 9, 2026, via a post on X (formerly Twitter), has ignited debate among space enthusiasts, industry insiders, and skeptics alike.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Musk’s announcement comes at a time when SpaceX and his artificial intelligence company, xAI, are preparing for what could be the largest initial public offering in U.S. history. The strategic tie-up between the two companies, formalized in early February 2026, signals a new chapter in Musk’s campaign to make humanity an interplanetary species. The internal SpaceX memo from February 2 described plans for permanent lunar bases and floating AI-generating data centers, painting a picture that feels straight out of science fiction.
Just over a year ago, Musk was singing a different tune. On January 3, 2025, he tweeted, “The Moon is a distraction. No, we’re going straight to Mars.” At the time, he argued that the key metric for space settlement was mass to orbit, and that all efforts should be funneled toward building a self-sustaining colony on the red planet. Yet, as deadlines for Mars missions slipped further into the future—first 2024, then 2026, and now not until at least 2030—SpaceX’s focus has shifted. Musk now frames lunar endeavors as a pragmatic stepping stone, a way to “secure the future of civilization” more quickly than waiting for the next Mars launch window.
“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 wrote on X. “The mission of SpaceX remains the same: extend consciousness and life as we know it to the stars.” He added, “The overriding priority is securing the future of civilization and the Moon is faster.”
Why the Moon, and why now? According to Musk, travel logistics play a pivotal role. “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,” he explained. While SpaceX still plans to begin building a Mars city “in about 5 to 7 years,” the lunar project is now front and center.
But what does a “self-growing city” actually mean? Details remain sparse, but Musk and his teams at SpaceX and xAI have begun sketching the outlines of a plan that blends lunar industry, AI, and ambitious engineering. In an xAI meeting with employees, audio of which was reported by The New York Times, Musk described the need to build an AI satellite factory on the Moon—complete with a gigantic electromagnetic catapult, or mass driver, capable of launching satellites into orbit. The vision is to create a massive orbiting AI data center, powered by the sun and cooled by the vacuum of space.
“You have to go to the moon in order to build the required AI capabilities,” Musk told his employees. “It’s difficult to imagine what an intelligence of that scale would think about, but it’s going to be incredibly exciting to see it happen.” The scale is staggering: Musk envisions launching a billion tons of AI-powered satellites per year, scaling up to 100 terawatts of AI compute annually from the Moon. He’s even suggested that SpaceX would build a system “that allows anyone to travel to the moon,” though, as usual, specifics are thin on the ground.
The engineering challenges are immense. Even with the Moon’s lower gravity—one-sixth that of Earth—achieving escape velocity for a satellite still requires speeds of around 3,800 MPH. Electromagnetic railguns can theoretically reach Mach 8.8, but any satellite launched this way would need to survive acceleration forces of 10,000 g or more. As The New York Times noted, “It’s fun to think about it, but there are a few tiny steps required first.” Before any catapults or AI factories, SpaceX would need to orbit the Moon, land on its surface, establish a colony, and construct the necessary industrial infrastructure. Not a small feat, especially considering that no human has set foot on the Moon in over half a century.
Of course, Musk’s timelines have always been optimistic—sometimes wildly so. His 2017 pledge to land cargo on Mars by 2022 has come and gone, with the relevant rocket still in testing as of 2026. Skepticism abounds, and many in the space industry have learned to take Musk’s deadlines with a healthy grain of salt. Yet, his ability to marshal resources, talent, and public attention is undeniable.
There’s also the matter of government contracts. In 2021, NASA selected SpaceX to develop a reusable Starship vehicle capable of ferrying astronauts to the Moon as part of the Artemis program. That contract, worth billions, has helped fund Starship’s development and keeps SpaceX under pressure to deliver. According to NASA, the first SpaceX-built rocket is expected to take off for the Moon’s South Pole in 2028. Musk’s sudden enthusiasm for lunar settlement dovetails neatly with U.S. government priorities, as noted by The Wall Street Journal.
Behind the grand pronouncements and technical bravado, one thing is certain: the landscape of private space exploration is shifting. SpaceX’s acquisition of xAI in February 2026 is more than a business maneuver; it’s a signal that Musk intends to harness the power of artificial intelligence not just on Earth, but as a cornerstone of humanity’s expansion into space. The plan to build lunar data centers and launch AI satellites from the Moon is as bold as it is unprecedented.
Yet, for all the excitement, the road ahead is littered with unknowns. Building a lunar colony, let alone a self-sustaining city or a high-throughput AI satellite factory, will require breakthroughs in robotics, materials science, life support, and more. Multiple manned and unmanned missions will be needed, each fraught with risk and complexity. And, as some experts have pointed out, the technical hurdles—especially for Musk’s mass driver concept—are formidable.
Even so, Musk’s pivot has reignited public interest in lunar exploration. Forums and social media are abuzz with speculation: Is this a genuine change of heart, or simply a pragmatic adjustment to shifting realities and missed deadlines? Whatever the answer, SpaceX’s new lunar focus ensures that the next decade of spaceflight will be anything but dull.
As Musk himself once joked about his own ambitions: he’d like to travel to Mars—“just not on impact.” With the Moon now firmly in his crosshairs, the world will be watching to see whether this latest vision is another fleeting distraction or the beginning of a new era in human space exploration.