WASHINGTON: SpaceX is putting its longstanding focus of sending humans to Mars on the backburner to prioritise establishing a settlement on the Moon, founder Elon Musk said. The South Africa-born billionaire's space company has found massive success as a NASA contractor, but critics have for years panned Musk's Mars colonisation plans as overambitious. The move also puts Musk in alignment with US President Donald Trump's shift away from sending Americans to Mars.
"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," Musk said in a post on X, the social media platform he bought in 2022. Difficulties in reaching Mars include the fact that "it is only possible to travel to Mars when the planets align every 26 months."
"We can launch to the Moon every 10 days," he added. Musk has blown through several previous estimates on when he could feasibly put man on the Red Planet. Americans are currently scheduled to return to the Moon's surface in mid-2027 on the Artemis 3 mission, but the timeline has been repeatedly pushed back. — AFP
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