Elon Musk reveals SpaceX plans to build satellite factories on the moon

Elon Musk reveals SpaceX plans to build satellite factories on the moon

Musk outlined his vision to investors after SpaceX posted a $542 million loss from its space launch sector in its first quarter as a public company

Elon Musk laid out a sweeping plan for SpaceX to reach profitability during an investor call on Tuesday—including robotic satellite factories on the moon.

Musk, who is known for making ambitious timeline predictions that don't always hold up to reality, told investors this will come to fruition “faster than you think.”

Building factories largely staffed by robotic workers “sounds like super sci-fi right now” he acknowledged, “but it’s going to happen.”

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Those facilities, when combined with solar and radiation-based energy production on the lunar surface, would allow humanity to “scale to 1,000 times the economy of Earth in terms of intelligence launched to space, but probably, maybe even a million times,” he said.

The idea of manufacturing on the moon isn’t ludicrous, says Patrick Suermann, a professor of construction science at Texas A&M University, who recently visited SpaceX’s Starbase headquarters. He pointed to NASA’s timeline for establishing a permanent lunar base , currently slated to be completed by 2032, replete with a nuclear power reactor.