Musk in About-Face Says SpaceX ‘Shifted Focus’ From Mars to Moon

Entrepreneur announces his company will still pursue a Martian city but will make the moon its ‘initial focus.’

Jack Daleo

Monday, February 09, 2026 at 01:30 PM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Travis Tingle

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk fields questions during an April 2012 media briefing at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. [Credit: NASA]

Key Takeaways:

SpaceX has shifted its primary focus from colonizing Mars to building a "self-growing city" on the Moon, a move confirmed by CEO Elon Musk.
This strategic change is based on the Moon's closer proximity, more frequent launch windows, and a faster timeline for establishing a self-sustaining base (less than 10 years compared to 20+ for Mars).
The lunar focus aligns with NASA's Artemis III mission, which plans to use SpaceX's Starship for a human landing on the Moon by 2028, with SpaceX aiming for an uncrewed landing in 2027.
Despite the immediate prioritization of the Moon, SpaceX still intends to pursue Mars colonization in parallel, with potential missions launching directly from Earth as early as 2031.

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SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Sunday told “those unaware”—which would seem to be anyone outside the company, its investors, and perhaps Musk’s inner circle—that SpaceX has “already shifted focus” away from colonizing Mars in favor of building a “self-growing city” on the moon.

The Wall Street Journal on Friday reported that SpaceX told investors it would place its Mars plans—which the company has touted for well over a decade—on the back burner. It will instead shift its primary focus toward an uncrewed moon landing in 2027, per “people familiar with the matter.”