SpaceX kicked off its Falcon 9 rocket launches again this weekend after a pause caused by a recent issue during a launch. CEO Elon Musk announced exciting news: the company is shifting its goal from Mars to creating a self-sustaining city on the Moon within the next decade.
The hiccup occurred when the Falcon 9’s second stage experienced a failed ignition. This led to an unsuccessful deorbit burn over the Southern Indian Ocean. According to SpaceX, the problem stemmed from a gas bubble in the transfer tube.
During the investigation, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) stepped in to oversee the process. They assured that they would review the findings and approve any corrective actions needed. A few days later, the FAA cleared SpaceX to resume launches, affirming that the root cause was identified as the second stage engine’s failure to ignite.
SpaceX took steps to prevent such incidents from happening again. Soon after getting the green light, they launched 25 Starlink satellites from Vandenberg, paving the way for future missions, including Crew-12.
Shifting the focus to the Moon marks a significant change in SpaceX’s strategy. Musk believes this project can be achieved much sooner than reaching Mars, which he estimated would take over 20 years. SpaceX was awarded a contract in 2021 to create a lunar lander variant of the Starship, but NASA noted that they had fallen behind schedule. As a result, the agency reopened the competition for lunar landings, aiming to have humans on the Moon by 2029.
While SpaceX regroups and pushes forward, competitor Blue Origin recently announced it would pause its New Shepard flights to accelerate work on its lunar lander. In 2023, they unveiled a mock-up for a cargo version of their Blue Moon lander, indicating a fast-paced development strategy.
Even with these plans, SpaceX still needs to successfully launch its Starship into orbit. Many view Musk’s timeline of “less than 10 years” for a Moon city as ambitious, yet with significant funding and innovation, it could spark a new era in space exploration.
