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Posted on 02/12/2026 12:37:26 PM PST by DFG
As Elon Musk tries to sweep his Mars ambitions under the rug like an embarrassing teenage phase, he’s now shifting focus to the Moon — with no less eye-brow raising ideas.
According to new reporting from the New York Times, Musk told employees at xAI — his AI company recently acquired by SpaceX — that it needs to construct a factory on the Moon to churn out AI satellites. And to launch the satellites into space, he says, it needs to build an enormous electromagnetic catapult.
Sci-fi readers already know where this is going: Musk is thinking about building a mass driver, which is essentially a coilgun for launching payloads instead of deadly projectiles. Paired with the lunar facility, Musk views it as a necessary step in building out computing power for his AI empire, which must not be bound by the finitude of terrestrial real estate.
“You have to go to the Moon,” Musk said at an all-hands meeting, per the NYT. “It’s difficult to imagine what an intelligence of that scale would think about, but it’s going to be incredibly exciting to see it happen,”
The outpouring of lunar enthusiasm from Musk comes after his aerospace company SpaceX bought xAI ahead of what is anticipated to be a historic IPO.
In an announcement about the acquisition stuffed with more sci-fi concepts, Musk argued that space-based AI was the “only way to scale” the technology. He spoke of putting data centers in the Earth’s orbit, where in theory they’d have access to practically unlimited amounts of solar energy. Along with orbital data centers, he imagines populating the orbit with a vast constellation of AI satellites, something he likened to building a “sentient sun.”
The Moon may sound like a logical destination for a space company, but it actually represents an incredible about-face for Musk and SpaceX. Musk has spent years denigrating lunar missions, viewing them as a waste of time and a “distraction” from his ultimate goal of sending humans to Mars. His mantra has always been to “make life multiplanetary,” and “extend consciousness to the stars.” He has frequently provided optimistic timelines for achieving this, including promising in 2017 that the company’s first Mars mission would launch in 2022, and its first astronauts would arrive by 2025. He has consistently reiterated this mission, and presented SpaceX employees with a roadmap to reaching the Red Planet.
Of course, Musk insists he’s not abandoning Mars. In the Tuesday meeting, he described the Moon as a stepping stone to Mars. First, he wants to build “a self-sustaining city on the Moon,” then travel to Mars — and then, naturally, search the rest of the galaxy for aliens.
He provided a timeline for his dueling Moon-Mars ambitions in a recent tweet justifying the pivot.
“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,” Musk explained. “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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“Erratic”
Nope. No bias there.
Check out “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress” for kinetic catapults on the moon.
Space elevators could work in theory.
His timeline does seem pretty ambitious. But I’m guessing investors don’t want to hear “So we are planning on getting to Mars by 2035”
Adjectives and adverbs are opinion, not fact.
The more gratuitous adjectives and adverbs articles/titles contain, the more opinions/lies they contain.
No need to spend huge amounts of money, Elon. I’ve perfected a slingshot that will do the trick at 1/10 the cost. Give me a call, and we’ll talk price.
He may be “erratic” at times. But this is because his brain and imagination are working non stop. So much to do, so little time to do it. At least he has achieved so much and provided jobs for so many people. What has this little “futuristic” leaflet has achieved except for belching bile nobody is interested in?
The Moon is a logical first step and a lot easier to deal with.
In the great scheme of things if Mars has to wait decades it will not be a major setback.
At least in part, I suspect he is waiting for a continuous propulsion system that will significantly cut travel time to the planets.
This author is a clown. When I read about what he’s planning, I see it as a response to the red tape the EPA puts on power generation here. CA and other states endure rolling brownouts so the snail darter can swim in a stream. Just like other species that were on the endangered species list (e.g., the Canadian goose) they make a comeback. Indeed, I’d like to see open season on those geese that make it impossible to walk in my back yard for all the goose poop. Maybe some species don’t deserve to persist, like we’ve seen evolution progress through the ages. I wonder how people would vote given the choice between having the snail darter or electric power for their homes and cars.
Not just that.
The US government wants to go to the moon. They are paying for several projects, such as the moon lander that they already have SpaceX building.
Right now SpaceX is financing their Starship development. For Elon, having the government pay for the research is good business sense. He can then take what he has learned from the moon missions to go to Mars.
imho musk ai grok is the space mission inside the space mission. grok is what will provide the new tools technology and physics that will get the job done in a timely way.
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
It was in the book
“I am CEO Musk, your senior drill instructor. From now on you will speak only when spoken to! And the first and last words out of your filthy sewers will be SIR! Do you maggots understand that!” —SIR, YES SIR! “You will build a catapult on the Moon whilst singing my name! Do you maggots understand that!”
lol My first thought! Outta control, entitled government? Check. AI? Check. Working catapults on the lunar surface? Working on it.
The escape velocity for the lunar surface is only 1/5th that of earth. A powerful catapult could in fact fling an object into space from the moon. Musk knows what he is talking about.
The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress. Imagine how much value a woman will have if she lives in a Moon city.
We will never have people permanently residing on other planets. It is far easier to build a ring-shaped environment in orbit than it would be to build a civilization under domes on planets; and even minor differences in the amount of gravity would absolutely prevent human colonization.
HOWEVER, if we are to build rings in space, we will need a tremendous amount of raw materials. The problem is overcoming Earth’s gravity to get them into space. The moon can provide much of that material. The water it has will only support a few, small rings, but when the technology is needed and available, it can provide plenty of ballast for “space elevators.” (Scoop kilotons of water from the ocean, balance that weight with an equal weight of rock, and you have a system which requires no net energy to escape gravity.)
Would be a lot cheaper to launch earth satellites from the moon.. provided they are “Made in The Moon” and not transported from the earth to there.
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