Elon Musk dropped a cosmic bombshell on Monday, revealing SpaceX’s accelerated timeline for space colonization. The tech titan aims to construct a fully independent city on the Moon in under 10 years, paving the way for human settlements on Mars roughly 20 years later.
Posting on X, Musk explained why the Moon is the smarter starting point. ‘We can launch to the Moon every 10 days and get there in 2 days,’ he noted, compared to Mars’ restrictive 26-month windows and six-month hauls. This frequency enables faster iteration and development, crucial for building sustainable habitats.
SpaceX’s core mission—to spread life across the stars—drives these efforts. While Mars initiatives kick off in 5-7 years, lunar bases offer quicker wins for safeguarding humanity. Starship, the behemoth rocket designed for deep space, will lead the charge with uncrewed Mars flights next year, testing landing tech.
If those succeed, crewed missions follow in four years, scaling rapidly toward a self-sufficient Martian city. Musk’s vision isn’t sci-fi; it’s backed by relentless innovation. From reusable rockets to massive payloads, SpaceX is compressing decades of progress into years, challenging the world to join the space race.