Elon Musk pivots SpaceX to moon from Mars as IPO approaches
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Senior Reporter
Mon, February 9, 2026 at 10:22 AM EST
2 min read
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Elon Musk is moving the goalposts back to what was once SpaceX's (SPAX.PVT) top target, with sights now set on the moon rather than Mars. The pivot comes as the company's initial public offering (IPO) fast approaches.
In a Sunday post on X.com right before the Super Bowl, the SpaceX and Tesla (TSLA) CEO said the rocket company "shifted focus to building a self-growing city on the Moon," arguing that doing so on Mars would take "20+years."
Musk added on Monday morning in an X.com reply that SpaceX "will still do Mars in parallel, but the critical path to a self-growing Moon city is faster," adding that "the Moon city can be made to be self-growing in less than half the time of Mars."
Many years before this pivot, Musk's and SpaceX’s goal was to colonize Mars in order to preserve civilization, per Musk. The CEO once said that SpaceX would reach Mars by 2026.
With a Mars landing a distant reality, Sunday's announcement of a major change in SpaceX's mission comes as the darling of the startup world preps for its upcoming IPO. Investors may be more focused on money-making ventures like rocket launches, Starlink internet service, and the growing possibility of orbital data centers. SpaceX is reportedly targeting an IPO date this summer, with June a possibility.
Last week on the Dwarkesh podcast, Musk spoke of using the moon as a launch base for additional satellites and an assembly plant for parts needed for orbital data centers, such as radiators and solar cells.
While Wall Street may be coming around on orbital data centers, which once seemed like science fiction, spending billions on a mission to Mars may be too far a stretch for investors.
SpaceX aims to raise significant funding from its IPO, and the story Musk and SpaceX tell banks that are marketing the offering needs to be airtight.
SpaceX is reportedly discussing a valuation of $1.5 trillion, with as much as $50 billion in funding raised by the IPO, the largest public offering ever. And that valuation has been growing.
Last week, SpaceX and Musk’s AI startup xAI signed a merger agreement reportedly creating a $1.25 trillion company, making it the biggest corporate merger by value in US history.
This follows Musk combining X.com with xAI last March and Tesla announcing a $2 billion investment in xAI following earnings in late January.
As SpaceX hones and tweaks its story to investors as it seeks megasums of capital, Elon Musk will, of course, benefit from the offering beyond raising funds for his SpaceX missions.
Story Continues
Musk would reportedly own around 42% of SpaceX before any dilution. SpaceX would need to reach $1.6 trillion in valuation for Musk to become the world’s first trillionaire.
Pras Subramanian is the Lead Transportation Reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on X and on Instagram.
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