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 change confirmed by CEO Elon Musk.
The strategic pivot is due to the Moon's closer proximity, more frequent launch windows, and the potential for faster development and iteration of a lunar city compared to a Martian one.
SpaceX's lunar plans include an uncrewed landing by 2027, intended to lay groundwork for NASA's Artemis III mission, while Mars colonization remains a parallel, long-term objective for missions potentially starting in 2031.

See a mistake? Contact us.

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.”