Preparations to establish a settlement on the Moon before Mars, Elon Musk changed the focus of space mission

Washington. Amidst his ambitious goal of making the world multi-planetary, Elon Musk has made a major change in strategy. His company SpaceX is now going to speed up the work towards establishing human settlement on the Moon instead of Mars.

It is more practical to establish a city on the moon

Musk says that setting up a self-sustaining city on the Moon is easier from a technical and logistical point of view than on Mars.

According to him, while this goal can be achieved on the Moon in about 10 years, it may take at least 20 years to establish a similar settlement on Mars.

Distance and launch window became the biggest reasons

Musk said that to reach Mars, a special astronomical alignment of Earth and Mars is necessary, which is possible only approximately every 26 months. In contrast, missions to the Moon may be launched on a much more regular basis—with launches possible approximately every few days. This makes planning of supply, manufacturing and manned missions more practical.

First robot, then human

The initial phase of the Mars mission planned to send humanoid robots to deal with challenges such as toxic atmosphere, extreme cold and radiation.
Now Musk believes that by developing an initial settlement on the Moon, the technologies learned there will be used in the Mars mission later.

Mars mission not abandoned, only postponed

Musk made it clear that the dream of establishing a city on Mars is not over.
According to him: Building a permanent base on the Moon would act as a “test-bed”! The life-support technologies, energy systems and construction models developed here will be useful for Mars! The Mars mission can be given momentum again in the next 5–7 years.

Vision related to the security of human civilization

Musk has long been saying that the future of mankind should not be limited to Earth only.
Their goal is to create such self-sufficient settlements that can keep human civilization safe even in the event of a global disaster.

Big picture:

SpaceX’s new strategy appears to be based on a “Moon, then Mars” model rather than “straight to Mars”—a phased expansion toward space colonization.