Elon Musk announced plans to build a self-growing lunar city with SpaceX in a tweet on February 8, 2026 (tweet). He said the moon project aims to secure the future of civilization and allow faster development than Mars.
Musk said Mars development shifted to 2027 while lunar landing was prioritized for 2026. “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 the stars. It is only possible to travel to Mars when the planets align every 26 months (six-month trip time), whereas we can launch to the Moon every 10 days (2-day trip time). This means we can iterate much faster to complete a moon city than a Mars city. That said, SpaceX will also strive to build a Mars city and begin doing so in about 5 to 7 years, but the overriding priority is securing the future of civilization, and the Moon is faster.”
He has said he plans to take SpaceX public next year, a move that has drawn bullish investor attention. The acquisition of xAI by SpaceX has furthered those expectations (mentioned).
Musk also argued that space-based computing will cut AI training costs in coming years. “My estimate is that within 2 to 3 years, the lowest cost way to generate AI compute will be in space. This cost-efficiency alone will enable innovative companies to forge ahead in training their AI models and processing data at unprecedented speeds and scales, accelerating breakthroughs in our understanding of physics and invention of technologies to benefit humanity.”
The coverage noted that a successful lunar city and a public SpaceX could accelerate Mr. Musk’s net worth toward trillionaire levels. It said such outcomes could make him the first-ever trillionaire on Earth.
