'Self-growing city' on Moon in 10 years? Elon Musk drops big hint on SpaceX's plan

"It is only possible to travel to Mars when the planets align every 26 months (six month trip time), whereas we can launch to the Moon every 10 days (2 day trip time)," Musk added in an X post.

Elon Musk, who actively engages on his social media platform 'X', recently dropped a post for space enthusiasts. He discussed about SpaceX's focus and misson in his message.

On Sunday, he wrote that SpaceX has shifted its focus to building ​a "self-growing city" on the moon. He expressed his belief that the same ‌could be achieved within a decade.

"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. The mission of SpaceX remains the same: extend consciousness and life as we know it to the stars," the post read.

Read full X post by Elon Musk below

Musk's ‌comments ‌reportedly echo a Wall Street Journal report earlier this month, which mentioned that the private American aerospace and artificial intelligence company has ⁠informed investors it about aiming for moon first and Mars later.

"It is only possible to travel to Mars when the planets align every 26 months (six month trip time), whereas we can launch to the Moon every 10 days (2 day trip time). This means we can iterate much faster to complete a Moon city than a Mars city. That said, SpaceX will also strive to build a Mars city and begin doing so in about 5 to 7 years, but the overriding priority is securing the future of civilization and the Moon is faster," Musk posted.

Notably, space launches and missions see competition by a few countries. The US reportedly faces intense competition ‍this decade from China in its effort to return astronauts to the moon, where no humans have gone since the final U.S. Apollo mission in 1972.