SpaceX scraps Mars mission to focus on moon

SpaceX has postponed a Mars mission that had been tentatively slated for this year, redirecting its near-term efforts toward a long-anticipated lunar voyage for NASA.

The company told investors it will prioritise returning to the moon first and pursue a Mars trip at a later stage, according to people familiar with the matter cited by the Wall Street Journal.

The revised plan targets March 2027 for an uncrewed lunar landing, another source said.

The shift comes as SpaceX intensifies plans to deploy artificial-intelligence data centres in orbit following its acquisition of Elon Musk’s startup xAI. The deal, announced this week, values the combined company at about $1.25 trillion. SpaceX is also weighing a public listing that could arrive as early as this summer.

In a memo outlining the merger, Musk—who also serves as SpaceX’s CEO—described ambitions to support a permanent human presence on the moon, framing it as a stepping stone for deeper space exploration.

“The capabilities we unlock by making space-based data centres a reality will fund and enable self-growing bases on the Moon, an entire civilisation on Mars and ultimately expansion to the Universe,” he said.

NASA contracted SpaceX several years ago to develop a version of its Starship spacecraft capable of meeting an agency vehicle in lunar orbit, taking on crew, and transporting US astronauts to the moon’s surface. Returning astronauts is a central objective of NASA’s Artemis program.

Despite that partnership, Musk last year referred to the moon as “a distraction” and said SpaceX was going “straight to Mars.” He had also previously sought political backing for a Mars mission, telling President Donald Trump that reaching the planet would secure his reputation as a “president of firsts,” according to The Wall Street Journal.

SpaceX had earlier indicated plans to send five Starship vehicles toward Mars in late 2026, aiming to capitalise on a period when the distance between Earth and Mars narrows, making the journey more efficient.

By Nazrin Sadigova