SpaceX has set a target of March 2027 for its first uncrewed lunar landing under its revised roadmap|Official SpaceX Photos|CC BY-NC 2.0
SpaceX is redirecting its core exploration goal from building a human settlement on Mars to creating “a self-growing city on the Moon,” CEO Elon Musk announced.
He said a lunar city could be achieved in less than 10 years, whereas colonizing Mars could take twice that time.
In a post on X, Musk explained that spacecraft can launch to the moon every 10 days and reach it in about two days. Meanwhile, Mars missions can only take place every 26 months due to planetary alignment, and take about six months to arrive.
SpaceX still plans to pursue a Mars city, with preparatory work expected to begin in about five to seven years. But Musk stressed that the moon is now the overriding priority because it allows for quicker progress and more frequent testing.
The company also set a target of March 2027 for its first uncrewed lunar landing under its revised roadmap.
This shift aligns SpaceX more closely with NASA’s current lunar focus. SpaceX has a $2.9 billion NASA deal to land astronauts on the moon.
Musk’s company is also seeing increasing competition from Blue Origin. Since securing its NASA contract in 2023, Jeff Bezos’s company has received about $835 million to develop a lunar lander.