SpaceX about face Mars to Moon focus

[Slarty1080]

Given the recent about face in priorities by SpaceX, where does that leave the timing on the SpaceX Mars program?

It is very disheartening for those who support the human exploration of Mars to hear that 10 Musk years will be spent on achieving the new Moon plans and 5 to 7 Musk years of delay are now baked into the Mars plans.

With Starship still not operational, Starlink needing to be launched as well as this new orbital data center concept, I fear that Mars may be lost in the long grass for far too long and Musk is not immortal.


“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.

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.”

https://x.com/elonmusk/status/2020640004628742577?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2020640004628742577%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mandatory.com%2Fnews%2F1727843-elon-musk-spacex-moon-over-mars-plan

[spacenut]

I hope the Starship v3 will be completely successful.  I also hope they land the Starship back on earth, either with legs or caught by the launch tower.  I think the booster will be successful as they have already caught two.  I also hope the increase production to have many launches this year. 

I do know they have to get Starlink completed as well as trying to do Xai in orbit.  They also have to develop fuel transfers in space, and complete the lunar landers.  This is a lot.  Don't know how fast they can do this.  The Florida facilities have to be completed for Starship production as well as the ones at Starbase.  Hopefully all of this will come together this year. 

[DanClemmensen]

I do know they have to get Starlink completed as well as trying to do Xai in orbit.

Starlink will never be "completed". It will be continuously upgraded as satellites are replaced at the end of their 5-year lifetime. The replacement satellites will always add lots of new bandwidth. The V3 satellites (launched by Starship) will support at least ten times the bandwidth of the V2 minis they replace. Steady-state replacement requires 80 to 100 Starship launches per year forever.

[Chris Bergin]

Already several threads.

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=64381.0