In an article on X on February 8, SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk said his rocket company has "shifted its focus to building a self-developing city on the Moon". According to Elon Musk, if implemented on Mars, such a project would take "more than 20 years".
On the morning of February 9, answering another comment on X, Elon Musk clarified that SpaceX "will still pursue Mars in parallel", but the key path to forming a self-developing city on the Moon will be faster. He emphasized that a city on the Moon "can achieve self-development in less than half the time compared to Mars".
For many years, the central goal of Elon Musk and SpaceX was to colonize Mars, arguing that this would help preserve human civilization.
Elon Musk once declared that SpaceX could put humans on Mars by 2026. However, as the prospect of landing on the red planet is increasingly distant, the announcement on February 8th shows a major change in the company's long-term orientation.
This strategic pivot move comes at a time when SpaceX - one of the most sought-after startup businesses - is preparing for an IPO expected to take place in the summer, with June mentioned as a possibility.
In that context, investors may be more interested in cash flow-generating activities, such as commercial rocket launches, Starlink satellite Internet services, and the increasingly clear prospects of orbital data centers.
Last week, in a conversation on the Dwarkesh podcast, Elon Musk said he saw the role of the Moon as a launching pad for additional satellites, and also a factory to assemble the necessary parts for the orbital data center, including coolers and solar panels. These science fiction ideas are gradually being considered more seriously by Wall Street.
Meanwhile, spending billions of USD on the Mars mission may be too far away for many investors, especially in the context that SpaceX needs to tell a convincing story to banks that are marketing IPOs.
The company is said to be discussing a valuation of about 1,500 billion USD, with the ability to raise up to 50 billion USD, thereby becoming the largest IPO ever. This valuation is said to continue to increase.
Notably, last week SpaceX and Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company xAI signed a merger agreement, which is said to create a business worth 1,250 billion USD, becoming the largest business merger in US history in terms of value.
Previously, Elon Musk merged X.com with xAI in March last year, and Tesla also announced an investment of 2 billion USD in xAI after the business results report at the end of January.
According to estimates, Elon Musk currently holds about 42% of SpaceX shares. If SpaceX reaches a valuation of 1,600 billion USD, Elon Musk could become the first person in the world to own assets worth 1,000 billion USD.
