Washington, Feb 9, (V7N) – Elon Musk has announced that SpaceX is prioritizing the creation of a self-sustaining settlement on the Moon, putting its long-touted Mars colonization plans on hold.

Musk said on Sunday that a lunar city could be achieved within a decade, while a Mars settlement would take more than 20 years due to the difficulty of planetary alignment, which allows launches to Mars only every 26 months. “We can launch to the Moon every 10 days,” he noted in a post on X.

The move aligns SpaceX with U.S. President Donald Trump’s updated space policy, which shifted focus from Mars to the Moon. Under NASA’s Artemis program, Americans are scheduled to return to the lunar surface in 2027, though delays are expected as SpaceX’s lunar lander remains under development.

Financial markets responded positively, with analysts highlighting easier access to the Moon as a way for SpaceX to “iterate much faster” toward building a lunar settlement. Musk added that while Mars remains a long-term goal, efforts to establish a city there could begin within five to seven years.

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