Elon Musk wants to put a satellite catapult on the moon. It’s not a new idea

Image caption: In the 1970s, Gerard O’Neill proposed use of an electromagnetic rail gun to lob payloads from Earth’s moon. Image source: NASA / Wikimedia Commons / Wayback Machine. Public Domain. Article by Leonard David. Space.com – February 18, 2026.

Last week, SpaceX founder Elon Musk advised workers at the newly acquired company xAI that he wants to set up a factory on the moon to build artificial intelligence (AI) satellites. And he called for a colossal catapult on the lunar surface to fling them into space. “My estimate is that, within two to three years, the lowest-cost way to generate AI compute will be in space,” Elon Musk wrote in a Feb. 2 update that announced SpaceX‘s acquisition of xAI. […]

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