Featured Image: yourNEWS Media Illustration
Elon Musk’s long-term space plans include using Tesla’s Optimus robots to prepare lunar and Martian settlements, with SpaceX aiming to land astronauts on the moon within two to three years if development remains on track.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Elon Musk’s plans for permanent human settlements beyond Earth could begin with robots rather than astronauts, according to a member of SpaceX’s founding team.
Jim Cantrell, a SpaceX founding team member and CEO of Phantom Space Corp., told the New York Post that Musk intends to use Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robots to build infrastructure on the moon and Mars before humans arrive.
“The robots build the settlement before the humans show up,” Cantrell told the Post. “Humans eat, defecate, consume and exhale water — we’re complicated. … Robots just need sunlight for electricity and the occasional lubrication for their joints.”
The concept is part of Musk’s broader goal of making humanity a multiplanetary species. His near-term focus is the moon, with Mars as the longer-term target.
During an interview this week with Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott on Sean Hannity’s radio show, Musk said SpaceX hopes to land astronauts on the moon within two to three years if the company’s development schedule holds.
“In 10 years from now, there are thousands of people on the moon,” Musk said. “We want to ultimately make it so that anyone … that wants to go to the moon can go to the moon and go to Mars.”
Musk said the goal is not only a landing program, but a lasting settlement. He described the company’s long-range objective as building “a full-blown, self-sustaining city on the moon,” followed eventually by a permanent city on Mars.
Mars remains the more difficult destination. Musk said launch windows to the planet occur only every 26 months, and the trip takes roughly six months. Even with those limits, he said the first humans could reach Mars within five years if progress continues.
SpaceX is also planning to expand its Starlink satellite network and develop space-based artificial intelligence systems. Musk told Abbott the company expects to launch its first AI satellites next year before rapidly scaling the effort.
According to the Post, SpaceX has filed applications with the Federal Communications Commission for a future constellation of up to 100,000 satellites. The network would support communications and computing between Earth, the moon and Mars.
Musk’s predictions have drawn attention because of both their scale and his past timelines. Forbes noted that Musk has made ambitious space exploration forecasts for years, including earlier projections for lunar tourism and Mars missions that were pushed beyond their original schedules.
The outlet also noted that SpaceX has repeatedly reached major technological milestones that many experts once considered unlikely.
Several major engineering obstacles remain before off-world settlements can become reality. SpaceX would need to demonstrate reliable orbital refueling for Starship, move large cargo payloads beyond Earth, and develop life-support infrastructure capable of producing power, water, oxygen and fuel on the moon and Mars.
Musk framed the effort as a push to turn long-standing science fiction concepts into actual engineering projects.
“We want to make the things that people see in science fiction not fiction,” he said. “We want to make them real.”
Original article
Comments