--- title: "SpaceX's major shift! Musk changes his tune: Mars is too far, the Moon is faster, aiming to build a \"lunar city\" within ten years" description: "From \"directly heading to Mars\" to a sudden shift towards landing on the Moon in 2027, Musk's strategic turnaround. This man, who once claimed that \"the Moon is a distraction,\" has finally shifted fro" type: "news" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/275280951.md" published_at: "2026-02-09T07:54:29.000Z" --- # SpaceX's major shift! Musk changes his tune: Mars is too far, the Moon is faster, aiming to build a "lunar city" within ten years > From "directly heading to Mars" to a sudden shift towards landing on the Moon in 2027, Musk's strategic turnaround. This man, who once claimed that "the Moon is a distraction," has finally shifted from romanticism to pragmatic business. He admitted that SpaceX has shifted its focus to building cities on the Moon, which is expected to be achieved within the next 10 years, while traveling to Mars will take more than 20 years "Time to go back to the Moon at scale." Just this past weekend, Musk announced this statement on the X platform, heralding the arrival of a new era in space exploration. This tech mogul, who has repeatedly shouted "Mars first," suddenly made a 180-degree turn. According to an exclusive report from The Wall Street Journal, **SpaceX has officially shifted its strategic focus, temporarily shelving the Mars plan to fully sprint towards the lunar mission scheduled for March 2027.** ## From Mars Dreams to Lunar Pragmatism This shift is quite dramatic. **For over a decade, Musk has regarded Mars colonization as SpaceX's ultimate mission. He has repeatedly emphasized in numerous occasions: "The Moon is a distraction; we must head straight for Mars."** But reality has ultimately triumphed over romance. Musk admitted on social media: > **SpaceX has shifted its focus to building a self-expanding city on the Moon, as we expect to achieve this goal within 10 years, while reaching Mars will take over 20 years.** The reality of the time window has become a key factor: the opportunity to go to Mars is limited to every 26 months during planetary alignments (with a travel time of 6 months), while the lunar launch cycle can be shortened to every 10 days (with a travel time of 2 days). This means that the construction iteration speed of the lunar base will far exceed that of Mars. Of course, Musk emphasized that this does not mean giving up on Mars: > SpaceX will still be committed to building a Martian city, with plans to initiate related work within 5 to 7 years. ## The Birth of a Trillion-Dollar Behemoth: The New Blueprint for a Space Empire Behind this strategic shift is an epic integration of capital and technology. SpaceX has officially acquired xAI, and the merged valuation has soared to $1.25 trillion, making it the most valuable private company in the world. Meanwhile, market rumors suggest that SpaceX may launch an IPO later this year, with fundraising potentially reaching $50 billion. Even more shocking is the new vision for space commerce that Musk has outlined: a space AI data center. In a 3-hour in-depth interview last week, Musk elaborated on this crazy idea— > "Space is always sunny, with no day-night cycle, cloud cover, or atmospheric interference. The efficiency of solar panels is five times that on the ground, and there is no need for battery storage." Elon Musk asserts that within 36 months, space will become the cheapest place to deploy AI, costing only one-tenth of that on Earth. ## Space Computing Power: Surpassing Earth's Total in Five Years In that marathon interview, Musk made a more radical prediction: > In five years, I expect the AI computing power we launch and operate in space each year will exceed the total AI computing power on Earth. This is not just talk. According to the plan, SpaceX needs to launch about 100 gigawatts of solar energy and computing power payloads into orbit each year, equivalent to 10,000 Starship launch missions—almost once every hour. "The output of chips is growing exponentially, but the power output is flat. So how do you plan to power the chips? With magic energy?" Musk bluntly stated that the power bottleneck on Earth will become the ceiling for AI development, and space is the only solution. ## AI + Robotics: The Only Opportunity to Enhance American Manufacturing Behind the strategic shift lies deeper industrial concerns. In the interview, Musk rarely warned about the decline of American manufacturing. His solution is: Optimus humanoid robot + xAI digital human. Musk referred to Optimus as an "infinite money printer," emphasizing that "digital intelligence, AI chip capabilities, and electromechanical dexterity are all growing exponentially, and their product is the capability of robots." xAI aims at the trillion-dollar "digital employee" market. "By the end of this year, if digital human simulation has not been solved, I would be surprised," Musk predicted, stating this would be the limit of what AI can do before physical robots exist. ## Real Resistance and Time Urgency Idealism is rich, but reality is stark. NASA's "Artemis 2" rehearsal has just been postponed to March due to a liquid hydrogen leak, ringing alarm bells for SpaceX. To meet the lunar landing schedule in March 2027, the company needs to frequently launch Starships and prove its capability for in-orbit refueling—technologies that have yet to be fully conquered. Meanwhile, Bezos's Blue Origin is attempting to get ahead with a simplified system. In January, Blue Origin announced it would suspend its space tourism business to fully focus on its lunar landing plans. Musk is acutely aware of the urgency of time: > We just need enough time to build AI and robots so that we can finish before the (nation) goes bankrupt. From Mars fantasies to lunar landings, from ground computing power to space data centers, this tech visionary once again pushes the boundaries of human imagination. As he said at the end of the interview: > If you want to climb the Kardashev civilization scale, the only way is to go to space and harness the energy of the sun. This time, he chooses to start with the moon ### Related Stocks - [UFO.US - Procure Space ETF](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/UFO.US.md) - [ITA.US - ISHRS Aero & Def](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/ITA.US.md) - [ARKX.US - ARK Space Exploration & Innovation ETF](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/ARKX.US.md) - [PPA.US - Invesco Aero & Defense ETF](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/PPA.US.md) - [ARKQ.US - ARK Autonomous Tech & Robotics ETF](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/ARKQ.US.md) ## Related News & Research | Title | Description | URL | |-------|-------------|-----| | SpaceX 考虑最快 3 月秘密递交 IPO 申请，目标今年 6 月上市 | 据彭博报道，SpaceX 此次 IPO 的目标估值可能超过 1.75 万亿美元。今年 2 月，SpaceX 完成对人工智能初创公司 xAI 的收购，交易完成后合并实体的估值已达 1.25 万亿美元。 | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/277248270.md) | | MrBeast 表示，一旦有足够多的航空公司开始使用 Starlink，他将只预订提供该服务的航班：Elon Musk 对此作出回应 | MrBeast 宣布，一旦 Starlink 广泛可用，他将只选择提供 Starlink 的航空公司，称赞其在极端地点的可靠性。埃隆·马斯克对此积极回应，强调了 Starlink 的能力，并对 SpaceX 在月球和火星任务上的雄心表示信心 | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/276992464.md) | | 报道：SpaceX 考虑最快 3 月秘密递交美国 IPO 申请 | 报道：SpaceX 考虑最快 3 月秘密递交美国 IPO 申请。风险提示及免责条款 市场有风险，投资需谨慎。本文不构成个人投资建议，也未考虑到个别用户特殊的投资目标、财务状况或需要。用户应考虑本文中的任何意见、观点或结论是否符合其特定状况。 | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/277245069.md) | | 马斯克的 “新大饼”：月球基地 | 马斯克以 “月球基地 Alpha” 新叙事替代火星计划，拟在月球制造并发射 AI 卫星以突破算力瓶颈。此举旨在整合 SpaceX 发射能力与 xAI 算力需求，打造差异化估值，虽技术壁垒极高，但为合并实体注入增长想象。 | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/275864051.md) | | 美国稀土供应再恶化！部分航天与芯片被迫限产，钇价一年暴涨 69 倍！ | 美国航天与半导体领域正面临严重的稀土短缺危机。钇价一年内暴涨 69 倍，导致航空涂层企业被迫限产并实施配给制；钪库存告急则威胁到芯片供应链。尽管白宫承诺开发替代方案，但关键原料高度依赖进口，工业生产及高端制造面临停链风险。 | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/276991957.md) | --- > **Disclaimer**: This article is for reference only and does not constitute any investment advice.