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Posted on 02/08/2026 8:58:50 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum
Summary
SpaceX still intends to start on Musk's long-held ambition of a city on Mars within five to seven years, he wrote on his X social media platform, "but the overriding priority is securing the future of civilization and the Moon is faster."
Musk's comments echo a Wall Street Journal report on Friday, stating that SpaceX has told investors it would prioritize going to the moon and attempt a trip to Mars at a later time, targeting March 2027 for an uncrewed lunar landing.
As recently as last year, Musk said that he aimed to send an uncrewed mission to Mars by the end of 2026.
The U.S. faces intense competition from China in the race to return humans to the moon this decade. Humans have not visited the lunar surface since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.
Less than a week ago, Musk announced that SpaceX acquired the artificial intelligence company he also leads, xAI, in a deal that values the rocket and satellite company at $1 trillion and the artificial intelligence outfit at $250 billion.
Proponents of the move view it as a way for SpaceX to bolster its plans for space-based data centers, which Musk sees as more energy efficient than terrestrial facilities as the demand for compute power soars with AI development.
SpaceX is hoping a public offering later this year could raise as much as $50 billion, which could make it the largest public offering in history.
Earlier on Sunday, Musk...
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
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The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress
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Put data storage up there. Suck up Sunlight with no atmospheric interference. All in one place to blow up at once.
With current tech, no one will be coming back to Earth’s surface from Mars. The changes to their bodies will make it impossible to live on the Earth again. They could return to a moon base or an orbiting space station, not the planet’s surface.
Rather than barbecuing astronauts on Martian missions, the lunar flights seem a better choice.
Finding Mars an impractical goal fraught with hazards the goal post is now shifted to something no less sensational but more achievable to include limitless power for all conquering AI!
Woohoo!!!
Details, details details. You must be a true believer to overcome such negative vibes. Are these cosmic rays you speak of a new thing not known before Mighty Musk set his sights on colonizing the Red Planet?
You can protect against radiation. Surround them with lots of water for example. Every 2 feet cuts down gamma rays 10 fold.
Those same Cosmic rays hit people in low Earth orbit . Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko holds the world record for the most cumulative time in space, totaling 1,111 days over five missions, returning on October 6, 2024. He surpassed the previous record of 878 days set by Gennady Padalka. The U.S. record for cumulative time is 675 days, held by Peggy Whitson.
moon will be much easier
and
could be a stepping stone
The Lunar poles. At the bottom of some of these craters the Sun never shines. As a result you have water Ice at the bottom of them. To bring up a pound of water from Earth costs as much as a pound of Gold. That makes this real estate the most important place in the Solar System. This is why both America and China are trying to claim it first by getting there first .
Musk wants a factory to build data processing/AI satellites on thw moon. Launch them with electromagnetic mass drivers.
Night on the moon lasts two weeks.
Imagine how cold you would be after two weeks of steadily radiating, like a slow bleed, whatever warmth you may have had in your body at lunar sunset, into the inky blackness of space.
Viable human settlements on the Moon and Mars?
Why?
What kind of meaningful productive work can they do?
If we keep investing in more nimble and sensitive instruments, robotics can do the human jobs for a fraction of the cost.
“Why?”
Insufficient humility at the feet of Christ Jesus, King of the Universe.
Who appears to have ordained, finally, without right of appeal, or room to dispute, planet Earth, and planet Earth alone, as our forever home and habitat.
I’ve heard some theoretical plans to shield astronauts from cosmic radiation using either water or fuel in a membrane just inside of the outer shell of the spacecraft. I think this technical problem will be solved eventually.
Well the Moon is just right there ,LOL
Supposedly all these problems were solved in the 1960s.
Supposedly.
Supposedly all these problems were solved in the 1960s.
Supposedly.
“I’m sorry, Dave, I can’t do that…”
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