Why is Elon Musk really going to the Moon?

After 25 years of obsessing over Mars, Elon Musk announced that SpaceX has shifted focus from invading the Red Planet to invading the Moon. He claims he will build a self-sustainable lunar metropolis in less than a decade—a sharp contrast to his proposed Mars colony, which he says would now take at least 20 years. Both timelines are as fictional as Star Trek, but at least now his plan makes sense.

It is a jarring plot twist from January 2025, when Musk dismissed the Moon as a “distraction.”  Now...