Posted on 02/09/2026 1:32:01 PM PST by DFG
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.
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https://www.reuters.com/science/musk-says-spacex-prioritise-building-self-growing-city-moon-2026-02-08/
Moon is much more attainable, practical.
Mars is far away and poses additional health issues
I’m
All for Mars as a second step
I think this is a great idea! If we ever do send humans to mars it is best to have some stations along the way, and the moon would be the first.
Would it be a blue city? That would be a problem
A permanent manned settlement on the moon is the essential next step for space exploration, IMHO.
It is also a very strategic commercial and military area.
Mining asteroids will become doable.
Very exciting.
He just figured this out?
Picture living in a motor home and never going outside without putting on a smelly space suit. Picture getting weaker every day as the lesser gravity causes your bones to melt away. Picture never seeing a green tree or grass unless it’s in a bottle. The suicide rate will be huge.
Mars ain’t the kind of place to raise your kids
In fact it’s cold as hell.
A moon factory makes a lot of sense. 1/7 the delta-v to earth orbits. Plus with no atmosphere and plenty of real estate to run track for an EM mass driver. A self sustaining robotic infrastructure with power and good comms at the poles for sunlight and water.
A moon city does not make sense. Who wants to live there? Use as few people as possible.
Why it’s so important to claim the polar territories before the chicoms.
The Moon will be as useful as a space station.
People have been trying to reach the stars forever. The ideas are never right.
Mercury and then Gemini were a way to try to use what we knew, Low Earth Orbit, to reach the Moon. It didn’t work. Saturn showed what was necessary. A single stack that could reach the Moon and return. No Earth Orbit Docking necessary.
Musk was right. Direct to Mars - no return. The Earth’s Moon will only be useful when we can drill through it and use it to re-enter Earth orbit.
Cute! Let me guess, “The Time Machine.”
That’s a smart change of plans, Mars should stay on the back burner until rocket engines have improved significantly. And a possible return trip is guaranteed.
Ask yourself why it’s gonna take another 10 years to get to the moon and build a colony.?.? Do they need a much bigger technology driven studio?
NASA’s budget for fiscal year (FY) 2026 is $24.4 billion.
Elon Musk is worth $850 billion and he consumes about 4 billion of the NASA budget with space X services. Its an interesting place to be now. One person has over 30 times the resources to set space exploration policy/achievement than the United States, and in total more influence than all space fairing nations combined.
MOONSTOP
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