SpaceX can build a 'Moon City' within 10 years, says Elon Musk

Elon Musk has announced a major change in its SpaceX space plans. He posted on X (formerly Twitter) about his recent plans of focusing on Moon, rather than on Mars. He said, he will first prioritize building self-sustaining city on the Moon. He believes, this goal can be achieved under 10 years, resulting into a faster and more practical step toward human expansion into space.

Moon First, Mars Later Strategy

As per Musk, at this stage, building a city on the Moon is making a more sense at this stage, and hence, focusing on Mars, will take much longer to plan and execute. Mars launch window open only once every 26 months, which gradually slows down the progress. In comparison, the Moon allows frequent and flexible, and hence, it will help SpaceX to move faster.

Musk further clarified that this shift will not change SpaceX’s long-term mission. The tech giant aims to support life beyond Earth and looking ways to explore and expand human presence into space. The Moon is now seen as the first major step toward that larger goal.

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.

The mission of SpaceX remains the same: extend consciousness and life as we know it to…

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 8, 2026

Why the Moon City is Practical

One of the major key reason behind the Moon City shift is the launch frequency. It means SpaceX can send missions to the Moon every 10 days and each trip takes only about 2 days. This less time allow engineers to test and improve mission quickly.

With the help of fast cycles, SpaceX can build infrastructure step-by-step. The approach not just reduces risk, but also speeds up the development. As per Musk, this iteration makes the Moon City achievable sooner than a Mars mission and its settlement.

Mars City Still Part of the Plan

While the Moon City is currently the top priority, Mars colonization is not removed completely from SpaceX’s roadmap. Additionally, Musk clarifies that the Mars city is expected to begin in the next 5-7 years. Nevertheless, major construction on the Mars will come later, as soon as the Moon project reaches a stable stage.

Developing a Mars City still needs a lot of advanced technologies, and hence, building the Moon city is expected to act as a testing ground for it. These technologies include systems for energy, housing support, life support, and more. All these things together can be included closer to Warth before being used on deeper space missions.

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Space-Based Data Centers

In addition, Musk also shared information regarding data centers in space and it could become cheaper than those on Earth. This can be achieved within three years. He says, space offers more natural cooling and access to solar energy is easy in space as compared to Earth, resulting into lower and cheaper operating costs.