Tom Mueller, the first employee Elon Musk hired at SpaceX (NASDAQ:SPCX) and now the founder of Impulse Space, said the Moon is more important than Mars in the near term because it could become a practical source of raw materials for off-world industry.
Mueller Makes Case For Lunar Resources
In an interview segment with Sourcery’s Molly O’Shea on Sunday, Mueller said the priority should shift toward establishing a lasting lunar presence. He cited NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, saying Isaacman "said we’re going to build a base on the Moon and stay there."
Mueller tied the case for the Moon to rising demand for metals used in artificial intelligence infrastructure. "People are predicting we’ll run out of copper in the next few years," he said. "Data centers require so much copper."
He argued that the raw materials supply chain must eventually expand beyond Earth. "We need to start getting copper from the Moon or from the asteroids," Mueller said. "There’s an almost infinite supply in our solar system of material—enough to supply us for thousands of years." He added, "We just gotta get ready to go get it."
Moon Offers Near-Term Industrial Advantages
The argument reflects a more industrial view of space exploration, where the Moon is not only a scientific target but also a staging ground for construction, mining and energy-intensive computing. Mueller has made a similar case before, telling Space.com that it is roughly 20 times easier, in energy terms, to move material from the Moon to low Earth orbit than from Earth’s surface.
The Moon also offers more frequent mission opportunities than Mars. Musk said in February that SpaceX had shifted focus toward building a "self-growing city" on the Moon because it could be achieved in less than 10 years, compared with more than 20 years for Mars.
Artemis Push Adds Space Race Urgency
The shift comes as the United States faces growing competition from China. Isaacman recently called the Moon a proving ground for deeper space goals, saying it is only "four-and-a-half days away" and that a lunar economy will eventually include asteroid mining.
NASA’s next major step is Artemis III in 2027, a low-Earth-orbit mission to test Orion’s docking and rendezvous with one or both commercial human landing systems from SpaceX and Blue Origin before Artemis IV attempts a lunar landing.
Image via Shutterstock/ Elena11
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