Donald Trump sets aside $10,000,000,000 to fund Elon Musk’s ‘worst nightmare’

Elon Musk’s ambition to send humans to Mars has taken a major hit due to a surprising move by U.S. President Donald Trump. Despite initially backing Musk’s goals, Trump’s administration has shifted focus, dealing what’s being called Musk’s “worst nightmare.”

Musk has spent over a decade pursuing Mars colonization through his company SpaceX. Initially encouraged by Trump’s vocal support for space exploration, Musk celebrated the president’s inauguration with high hopes for collaboration.

However, Trump’s latest Senate initiative—the “Big Beautiful Bill”—allocates $10 billion to NASA’s Artemis program. This effort centers on returning astronauts to the Moon and eventually building a permanent base there by the end of the decade.

This funding is a sharp reversal from earlier NASA budget cuts that targeted the Artemis-linked Space Launch System (SLS). The sudden change raises questions, especially given recent public tensions between Trump and Musk.

Musk opposes the Artemis program largely because of its reliance on the SLS, which is a single-use launch system. In contrast, SpaceX promotes reusable rockets to reduce costs and increase efficiency in space travel.

The focus on the Moon also delays Mars exploration. With Artemis now a top priority, Musk’s Mars dreams may be postponed for years, undermining his long-standing vision for human settlement on the red planet.

Musk has openly criticized Artemis, calling it inefficient and more focused on creating jobs than actual space progress. He has dismissed Moon missions as a distraction from the larger mission of reaching Mars.