What explains SpaceX, Blue Origin stepping up their moon plans? | Explained Premium

SpaceX and Blue Origin are shifting focus to moon missions, influenced by NASA's lunar priorities and geopolitical competition.

Two of the world’s most visible private space companies are shifting their attention and resources to moon missions even as both continue to speak about longer term ambitions to Mars and beyond.

For many years, the public identity of SpaceX has been fused with settling humans on Mars. Its founder and CEO Elon Musk has repeatedly argued that a self-sustaining settlement on Mars would reduce the risk that a catastrophe on the earth ends human civilisation. He and SpaceX have also presented the Starship programme as the transport system that could render large-scale interplanetary travel feasible.

Blue Origin, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, has projected a different long-term vision: of building industrial capacity in space so that heavy industry can move off the earth. In recent years it has focused on developing its New Glenn heavy-lift rocket and a lunar lander for NASA’s Artemis programme. It has also been flying paying customers on short suborbital trips aboard its New Shepard rocket.

SpaceX has also been central to NASA’s Artemis plans to the moon for some time; now, however, the company is describing the moon as its immediate next priority in its sequence of major goals. The company has reportedly told investors that it is targeting an uncrewed lunar landing by March 2027 and that Musk has decided to focus on building a “self-growing city” on the moon. He also said on X.com that this can be achieved in under 10 years even while claiming that plans for a Mars city could still follow in roughly five to seven years.

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…

While the moon and Mars are both interplanetary bodies, missions to the former are easier for many reasons. The moon is under a week away by rocketflight, the distance is low enough for communications to be near-real-time, and the orbits of the earth and the moon are such that there are roughly three opportunities to launch to the moon every month.