Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, Tesla, and X, announced that SpaceX is redirecting its focus from building a city on Mars to constructing a self-sustaining city on the Moon. In a recent post on X, he said the lunar city could be established in less than ten years, using lunar resources to gradually build and expand a permanent human settlement. Musk explained that frequent launches to the Moon, possible every ten days, would make the project faster than Mars colonization, which requires favorable planetary alignment every 26 months.

Experts described the plan as ambitious but not science fiction. Dr. Sangwoo Lim of the University of Surrey said producing oxygen, water, and construction materials from lunar soil is theoretically feasible, though challenges include extreme temperatures, dust, low gravity, and limited energy. MIT professor and former NASA astronaut Jeffrey Hoffman added that successful lunar landers by SpaceX and Blue Origin could enable logistics for a lunar base soon, with lessons applicable to future Mars missions.

The announcement coincides with growing U.S.-China competition over lunar exploration and Musk’s restructuring of SpaceX, including its acquisition of AI firm xAI and plans for a potential IPO.