Why Elon Musk is Shifting from Colonizing Mars to Building a Colony on the Moon Soon

Ever since Elon Musk founded SpaceX in 2002, he intended to send humans and cargo to Mars as soon as possible. However, in February 2026, Musk announced that SpaceX is now shifting its vision from visiting Mars to building a self-sustaining city on the moon. He revealed that building a colony on the moon will be faster and could take less than 10 years to accomplish, unlike the Mars goals that will take decades.

So, how does Elon plan to build this futuristic city on the moon within 10 years? You are about to find out Elon Musk’s future plan for the moon and possibly Mars.

Why Elon Musk Now Wants to Build a Colony on the Moon

Elon Musk founded SpaceX to make traveling to space and distant worlds possible. Although his initial interest relies on visiting Mars and colonizing the red planet, the tech billionaire began to shift his priority to the moon recently.

His reasons for this change of plan have to do with the distance between Earth and Mars, the cost of transporting cargos and many others. Unlike Mars, which will take an average of 7 to 9 months, depending on the launch window, traveling to the moon will take the Starship about 2 to 3 days to arrive.

Hence, Musk is considering colonizing the moon mainly because of its close distance to Earth. In addition, astronauts traveling to the moon will not stay that long before arriving at their destination. Musk has seen that building a colony on the moon first will serve as a great inspiration that will enable him to do the same on Mars. Hence, he intends to build the first city, probably on the Lunar South Pole, within the 2030s.

How Musk Plans to Build the City on the Moon

Over the years, Elon Musk has founded several companies that would enable him accomplish his space colonization plan. Firstly, SpaceX will likely build advanced moon bases here on Earth and transport them to the lunar South Pole.

Tesla will also build more sophisticated humanoids designed specifically to operate on the harsh lunar terrains. These humanoids will help set up the moon bases and probably build the city on the moon. Astronauts will also visit the moon during the process to assist these humanoids with the setup and to bring human creativity as well.

SpaceX will also use its advanced 2030s technology to extract water from the lunar south pole. They will use this water as a fuel source to power the city and the spacecraft as well. Once SpaceX finishes building the city, they will start selling tickets to the moon to individuals hoping to visit its futuristic city on the moon.

Both civilians and astronauts who intend to visit the moon will under series of training sessions to prepare for this mission. Since Elon Musk revealed that it will take under 10 years to build this first city on the moon, we should expect it to be completed within the 2030s. If this city is completed, will you like to visit it?