Elon Musk reveals how moon plans support his AI and internet push

Elon Musk just changed everything about space

You know how Elon Musk has been talking about Mars forever? Well, he just pulled a total 180. SpaceX is now laser-focused on building a city on the Moon instead.

Musk made the shift public during Super Bowl weekend and in public statements around that broadcast, at a time when the announcement reached a very large TV audience.

For years, Musk literally said the Moon was a distraction and that SpaceX was going “straight to Mars.” Now he’s saying, forget that plan. The Moon is the new priority, and he thinks they can build a whole city there in less than 10 years.

Why the Moon beats Mars right now

You can only launch when Earth and Mars are perfectly aligned. That happens once every 26 months, and then the trip takes six months. That’s a long wait between attempts, which makes everything super slow and inefficient.

The Moon is literally right next door. SpaceX can launch missions every 10 days, and the trip only takes two days. Musk said they can “iterate much faster” this way. Basically, they can test stuff, fix problems, and build faster because they’re not waiting years between launches.

The real reason behind the switch

Musk got pretty real about why he changed his mind. He’s worried about disasters, either natural or man-made, that could stop supply ships from reaching a Mars colony. If that happened, everyone there would die because Mars would take 20+ years to become self-sufficient without Earth’s help.

A Moon city could become self-growing in under 10 years. That means it could survive on its own without constant deliveries from Earth way faster. Musk said securing civilization’s future is the “overriding priority,” and the Moon makes more sense for that goal right now.

Mars isn’t completely canceled, though

Musk says SpaceX will start working on a Mars city in five to seven years. They’ll run both projects at the same time, but the Moon gets the spotlight and most resources first.

He even mentioned crewed flights to Mars could happen in 2031. So the dream isn’t dead, just delayed and adjusted. The Moon is basically the practice round before the big Mars mission, which honestly makes sense when you think about it.

SpaceX and xAI just became one company

SpaceX recently acquired Elon’s AI company, xAI. That’s the company behind Grok, the chatbot on X. Now they’re combining AI, rockets, satellites, and social media under one massive operation that controls everything.

Musk called it “the most ambitious, vertically-integrated innovation engine on and off Earth.” He wants everything to work together: the AI helps run the rockets, the satellites provide internet, and the whole system supports building cities in space.

Factories that build themselves on the Moon

Here’s where it gets wild. Musk isn’t just talking about sending people to the Moon; he wants self-growing bases there. These would be factories that can build more factories using materials from the Moon itself. No need to ship everything from Earth constantly.

The plan includes using electromagnetic mass drivers to launch satellites from the Moon into deeper space. Musk has elevated concepts such as using lunar materials for local manufacturing and launching payloads with electromagnetic mass driver concepts in public remarks and interviews,

NASA had something to do with this

NASA awarded SpaceX a $2.9 billion contract in 2021 to build a Moon lander for astronauts. But last year, NASA grew impatient as SpaceX repeatedly missed deadlines and pushed back its timeline. The space agency threatened to open the contract to other companies, such as Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin.

That competition might’ve pushed SpaceX to get serious about the Moon fast. When you’re about to lose a multi-billion-dollar deal to your billionaire rival, priorities shift real quick. NASA wants astronauts on the Moon by 2028, and SpaceX needs to deliver or risk losing everything to competitors.

The Starship rocket is key to everything

None of this happens without Starship, SpaceX’s giant reusable rocket that’s still being tested. It’s the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built, standing over 400 feet tall. Every Moon mission and Mars mission depends on this thing working perfectly without major failures.

As of late 2025, Starship has flown more than a half dozen integrated test flights and completed 11 development launches, with mixed results. Some were high-altitude or suborbital development flights, while the vehicle has not yet demonstrated all required orbital and refueling milestones for routine Moon or Mars missions.

It still needs to nail an orbital mission and prove it can refuel in space successfully. Each Moon mission will need about 10 to 12 “tanker” flights just to fill up one Starship with enough fuel for the journey and landing.

Remember when Mars was supposed to be in 2026?

Back in 2020, Musk confidently said humans would land on Mars by 2026. He even said an uncrewed mission would launch in 2022 to test everything. These timelines have been sliding backwards for years now, with no end in sight.

SpaceX’s website still says Mars 2026 as a goal, which is pretty funny considering it’s already February 2026 and nothing’s launching. The Moon plan might actually be more realistic and achievable this time around.

Living on the Moon sounds terrible, honestly

Let’s be honest, the Moon is a harsh place to survive. There’s no air to breathe, temperatures swing wildly from boiling to cold, and radiation constantly bombards the surface every single day. You’d have to live in sealed habitats or maybe those glass dome things Musk mentioned earlier.

Despite all that, Musk sees it as a way to quickly establish a foothold beyond Earth before disaster strikes. The idea is to protect human civilization in the event of a catastrophic event on Earth.

Even if the Moon isn’t comfortable or pleasant, it’s insurance for humanity’s survival as a species.

SpaceX might go public very soon

SpaceX is preparing for an IPO that could raise $50 billion. That’s a massive amount of money that would help fund all these Moon and Mars projects for decades. Right now, SpaceX is private, but that might change soon for investors.

Going public would let regular people buy SpaceX stock, not just private investors and billionaires. With the Moon city plan and the xAI merger, the company’s value is skyrocketing fast. Investors are clearly betting big on Musk’s space dreams becoming reality.

What this means for regular people

You might be thinking, cool, but how does this affect me? Fair question to ask. If SpaceX actually builds a Moon city, the technology developed will trickle down to Earth for everyone. Better solar panels, advanced manufacturing, improved AI, all that stuff becomes available here eventually.

Plus, there’s the whole backup planet thing for humanity’s survival. If humanity faces extinction-level problems, having people living off Earth means we survive as a species forever. It’s like the ultimate insurance policy for everyone.

Want to see how those big visions are already colliding? Take a look at how the clash between OpenAI and Elon Musk just got bigger.

The bottom line on Musk’s big switch

Elon Musk went from calling the Moon a distraction to making it his top priority overnight. The reason is simple: it’s faster and more practical than Mars for getting humanity established in space permanently. Mars still happens eventually, just not first in the timeline.

You can believe Musk’s 10-year timeline or consider it overly optimistic, like his past predictions. Either way, one thing’s clear: space exploration just got a lot more interesting for everyone. The Moon is about to become the hottest real estate in the solar system, and SpaceX is leading the charge to build there first.

Curious how that space push ties into bigger global tech battles? Take a look at why Elon Musk warns China will lead the global AI power race.

Do you think Elon Musk will actually build a Moon city in 10 years, or is this just another overpromise? Drop your thoughts in the comments and hit that like button.

This slideshow was made with AI assistance and human editing.

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