Mars or the Moon or A.I.? Elon Musk’s Changing Goals for SpaceX.

Artificial

Intelligence

A.I. Arms Race

Anthropic-White House Talks

Job Cuts on Wall Street

‘Jagged Intelligence’

Code Overload

You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.

Credit...

Ben Voldman

Skip to content

Skip to site index

Mars or the Moon or A.I.? Elon Musk’s Changing Goals for SpaceX.

As SpaceX prepares to go public, Mr. Musk has proposed moonshots that differ from the company’s original aim of reaching Mars.

Credit...

Ben Voldman

Supported by

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT

Listen

· 7:48 min

Share full article

By

Ryan Mac

Reporting from Los Angeles

April 22, 2026

For years, SpaceX’s mission was clear: Get humans to Mars.

“The most powerful thing we could do is establish a second, self-sustaining civilization outside of Earth,” Elon Musk, SpaceX’s chief executive,

told Forbes

in 2003, a year after founding the company. “And the only place that’s really feasible is Mars.”

As a reminder of that goal, SpaceX has a mural in a cafe at its Hawthorne, Calif., campus featuring the progression of human settlement on the Red Planet. The company also sells “Occupy Mars” T-shirts, which Mr. Musk has regularly

worn in public

.

But over the last six months, Mr. Musk has shifted SpaceX’s priorities. Though the tech mogul once forecast that humans would

take off for Mars as early as 2024,

he has de-emphasized reaching the planet.

Instead, SpaceX on Tuesday said it had

struck a deal

with the artificial intelligence start-up

Cursor

that could result in its acquiring the young company for $60 billion. And Mr. Musk, 54, has proposed other moonshots that could drive more attention and investment to SpaceX as it prepares for one of the largest-ever initial public offerings.

Among his pronouncements are

A.I. data centers

that could orbit Earth, moon-based factories and an A.I. chip manufacturing plant, all of which will contribute to a utopian future where humans

never have to work

, he has said.

This week, some investors and fund managers are expected to get a closer view of those plans when they visit SpaceX’s facilities in Texas and Tennessee before the I.P.O., one person who was invited said. Some investors were also scheduled to visit SpaceX’s Hawthorne campus next week, the person said.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and

log into

your Times account, or

subscribe

for all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber?

Log in

.

Want all of The Times?

Subscribe

.

Related Content

Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT