Moon first: Elon Musk aims to build lunar city within 10 years before Mars

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Monday said the company is targeting the creation of a self-growing city on the Moon in less than 10 years, shifting focus to what he described as a faster and more achievable goal compared to Mars.

In a post on social media platform X, Musk said SpaceX’s mission remains to “extend consciousness and life as we know it to the stars”. He explained that lunar missions are logistically easier because launches to the Moon can take place roughly every 10 days, with a travel time of about two days. By contrast, missions to Mars depend on planetary alignment, which occurs every 26 months and involves a journey of around six months.

Musk said this shorter launch window and travel time would allow SpaceX to iterate more quickly on building infrastructure on the Moon, making a lunar city achievable in under a decade. He described securing the future of civilisation as the overriding priority and said the Moon offers a faster pathway towards that goal.

At the same time, SpaceX plans to pursue a long-term objective of establishing a city on Mars. Musk said the company could begin building a Mars city within five to seven years, with the aim of developing a self-sustaining settlement in about 20 years.

Last September, Musk announced that the first uncrewed Starship missions to Mars would launch in two years, during the next Earth-Mars transfer window. These missions will test the reliability of landing on the Red Planet. If successful, the first crewed flights to Mars could follow within four years.

Starship, described as the world’s most powerful rocket, is central to SpaceX’s plans. It is designed to transport humans and cargo to the Moon and eventually to Mars as part of the company’s broader space exploration strategy.
(With IANS inputs)