Elon Musk’s Vision: What Is the ‘Self-Sustaining City’ He Plans to Build on the Moon Instead of Mars?
Image source, Reuters
Elon Musk recently announced that a ‘self-sustaining city’ could be established on the Moon within 10 years.
Elon Musk, founder of X (formerly Twitter), Tesla, and SpaceX, and one of the world’s richest individuals, recently shared on his social network X that his company SpaceX plans to build a city on the Moon instead of Mars. This post was viewed 40 million times.
But why did Musk change course? And what do we know about the proposed city on the Moon?
The Moon Instead of Mars
Image source, NASA
There is no detailed formal plan regarding the city to be built on the Moon; Musk has only shared his vision on social media.
He explains that there will be a permanent human settlement and that many future missions will operate on the Moon, expanding the settlement by utilizing available resources.
He wrote, “Building a city on the Moon will take less than 10 years, whereas doing so on Mars will take more than 20 years.”
“SpaceX’s goal is to expand life and consciousness to the stars.”
The opportunity to travel to Mars only arises every 26 months when the planets are properly aligned, and a journey there takes about six months.
However, he says, “We can travel to the Moon every 10 days (with a trip duration of only 2 days).”
“Therefore, a city on the Moon will be built faster than one on Mars.”
SpaceX’s goal to develop a city on Mars remains longstanding and will continue. Musk wrote, “We will start that within the next 5 to 7 years. But the top priority is securing the future of human civilization, which can be done more rapidly on the Moon.”
Musk’s supporters have used the company’s AI tool ‘Grok’ to visualize a conceptual design of the city to be built on the Moon.
A report published this month in the Wall Street Journal revealed that SpaceX plans to prioritize lunar missions before Martian ones, having scheduled an uncrewed lunar mission for March 2027.
Previously, Musk was highly focused on Mars and, last year, stated plans to conduct an uncrewed mission there by the end of 2026.
While Musk has set ambitious goals in projects like electric and driverless cars, history shows implementation has often been delayed.
How Is This Possible?
Image source, NASA
Dr. Sungwoo Lim, senior space exploration lecturer at the University of Surrey, UK, says that although the SpaceX lunar settlement plan is ambitious, it is not impossible.
“Oxygen, water, and other building materials can be produced from the Moon’s soil because these processes are based on industrial methods used on Earth,” he explained.
However, the main challenge is how effectively these systems will operate under extreme temperatures, dust storms, low gravity, and limited energy environments.
While government space agencies proceed cautiously, depending on budgets and politics, Dr. Lim believes SpaceX will operate differently.
“If SpaceX’s new rocket system succeeds, rockets can be sent to the Moon faster and cheaper, accelerating progress.”
Dr. Ugur Guven, director of the Aerospace and Energy Studies Center at GD Goenka University, India, says that resupplying and emergency response on the Moon is much more feasible than on Mars.
“If there is a problem, because the settlement is on the Moon, another mission can be dispatched immediately,” he noted, adding that it takes less than three days to reach the Moon.
However, Dr. Lim also pointed out that building a fully self-sustaining lunar city remains a distant goal.
“It could take decades to develop systems capable of making everything reusable and producing essentials without resupply from Earth. So, while the possibility exists, it will progress gradually.”
This view is supported by Clive Neal, professor at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, USA.
“Without detailed economic studies on resource extraction on the Moon, we cannot say how to create a self-sustaining city,” he said.
Dr. Lim believes a ‘small outpost’ could be established within 10 years to extract necessary oxygen and water, marking significant progress.
According to Jeffrey Hoffman, former NASA astronaut and professor at MIT, if SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin successfully develop ‘Lunar Landers,’ essential supplies for lunar settlements could be provided.
However, Mars remains a more distant prospect.
Professor Hoffman notes that living on the Moon will help prepare for future colonization and development on Mars.
Dr. Guven also agrees that the Moon will facilitate easier journeys to Mars.
Increasing Competition
Image source, Reuters
This decade has seen growing competition between the United States and China to send humans back to the Moon. Since Apollo 17 in 1972, no human has set foot on the lunar surface.
SpaceX, under Musk’s leadership, has acquired the AI company xAI. The deal valued SpaceX at $1 trillion and the AI company at $250 billion.
This acquisition is believed to aid Musk in establishing substantial data centers in space, which will be critically important for AI operations.
Musk is reportedly preparing the company for a stock market listing, aligning business operations for this purpose.
The IPO could potentially raise $50 billion, making it the largest public offering in history.
Since last month, Musk has announced plans to establish 100,000 data centers in space to meet the growing demand from AI applications.
However, experts remain skeptical about cooling the graphics processing units (GPUs) involved in AI and data-intensive tasks in the airless environment of space.
Responding to a user’s question last Monday, Musk said that only 5% of SpaceX’s total revenue this year has come from NASA.
SpaceX is the primary contractor for NASA’s Artemis lunar program.
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