Elon Musk is redirecting his sights back to what was once SpaceX’s (SPAX.PVT) top priority, now aiming for the moon rather than Mars. The shift comes as the company’s initial public offering (IPO) rapidly approaches.
Ahead of the Super Bowl, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla (TSLA) said in a Sunday post on X.com that the rocket company is “shifting its focus to building a self-growing city on the moon” and believes that doing the same on Mars will take “more than 20 years.”
Musk added in a reply to X.com on Monday morning that SpaceX “will still be building parallel Mars, but the critical path to self-development of a lunar city is faster,” adding, “A lunar city can self-develop in less than half the time it takes on Mars.”
According to Musk, many years before this pivot, Musk and SpaceX aimed to colonize Mars to protect civilization. The CEO has said that SpaceX will reach Mars in 2026.
SpaceX announced major changes to its mission on Sunday as landing on Mars becomes a reality, even as the startup darling prepares for its upcoming IPO. Investors may be more focused on money-making projects such as rocket launches, Starlink Internet services and the growing possibility of orbital data centers. SpaceX is reportedly targeting an IPO this summer, with June also a possibility.
Last week, Musk spoke on the Dwarkesh podcast about using the moon as a launch base for additional satellites and an assembly plant for parts needed for orbiting data centers, such as radiators and solar cells.
While Wall Street may be making moves on orbiting data centers, which once seemed like science fiction, spending billions on a mission to Mars may be too far-fetched for investors.
SpaceX aims to raise a lot of money through the IPO, and the story Musk and SpaceX tell the banks who are marketing the offering needs to be tight.
SpaceX is reportedly discussing a $1.5 trillion valuation, with the IPO raising as much as $50 billion, the largest public offering ever. And valuations keep growing.
Last week, SpaceX and Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI signed a merger agreement, reportedly creating a company worth $1.25 trillion, making it the most valuable corporate merger in U.S. history.
Previously, Musk merged X.com with xAI in March last year, and Tesla announced an investment of US$2 billion in xAI after releasing its financial report at the end of January.
Elon Musk, of course, will benefit from the offering in addition to raising money for his SpaceX mission as SpaceX hones and fine tunes its story to investors in its quest for massive capital.
