Elon Musk plans to use Tesla robots to build infrastructure for human habitation on both the moon and Mars, according to a SpaceX founding team member.

Jim Cantrell, a member of SpaceX's founding team and now CEO of Phantom Space Corp., told the New York Post that Tesla's Optimus humanoid robots will prepare future settlements before astronauts arrive, advancing SpaceX's long-term vision of establishing permanent off-world cities.

"The robots build the settlement before the humans show up," Cantrell told the Post. "Humans eat, defecate, consume and exhale water — we're complicated. … Robots just need sunlight for electricity and the occasional lubrication for their joints."

The effort is part of Musk's broader goal of making humanity a multiplanetary species, beginning with the moon before eventually colonizing Mars.

During an interview this week with Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott on Sean Hannity's radio show, Musk said SpaceX hopes to land astronauts on the moon within two to three years if development stays on schedule.

"In 10 years from now, there are thousands of people on the moon," Musk said. "We want to ultimately make it so that anyone ... that wants to go to the moon can go to the moon and go to Mars."

Musk said the company's long-term objective is to create "a full-blown, self-sustaining city on the moon" before eventually expanding to a permanent city on Mars.

He acknowledged Mars presents a greater challenge because launch windows occur only every 26 months and the journey takes roughly six months, but predicted the first humans could arrive there within five years if progress continues.

SpaceX also plans to expand its Starlink satellite network and deploy space-based artificial intelligence infrastructure.

Musk told Abbott the company expects to deploy its first AI satellites next year before scaling the program rapidly.

According to the Post, SpaceX has also filed applications with the Federal Communications Commission for a future constellation of up to 100,000 satellites designed to support communications and computing between Earth, the moon and Mars.

Forbes noted that Musk has made similarly ambitious space exploration predictions for years, many of which have slipped beyond their original timelines.

The outlet pointed to earlier forecasts of lunar tourism and Mars missions that were delayed while acknowledging that SpaceX has repeatedly achieved major technological milestones many experts once considered unlikely.

Among the biggest engineering challenges are demonstrating reliable orbital refueling for Starship, transporting massive cargo payloads, and developing life-support infrastructure capable of producing power, water, oxygen and fuel on the moon and Mars.

Despite those hurdles, Musk told Abbott the mission is about more than technology.

"We want to make the things that people see in science fiction not fiction," he said. "We want to make them real."