President Donald Trump’s single reference to space in his second inaugural address Monday pointed in an unexpected direction.

In his prepared remarks, Trump, a longtime backer of U.S.-led space exploration and exploitation, singled out Mars and left the moon hanging.

“We will pursue our manifest destiny into the stars, launching American astronauts to plant the Stars and Stripes on the planet Mars,” Trump said.

Trump’s seeming omission fueled what’s become a cottage industry in predicting the end of Artemis, NASA’s $100 billion program that aims to establish a permanent human presence on the Moon. Such a move could have far-reaching consequences in Huntsville, where the Marshall Space Flight Center manages the Space Launch System rocket program and the lunar landing aspects of Artemis, as well as developing software and building adapters for various stages of the spacecraft.

Here are five things to know about Mars, the moon and the new president.

1. Landing humans on Mars has not been in the immediate plan

NASA has called landing on Mars a “horizon goal” — Artemis intends to staff a permanent colony on the moon as a stepping stone to the Red Planet. The space agency believes the technology developed and refined as well as lessons learned through Artemis will make Mars missions more likely to succeed.

NASA officials have said landing humans on Mars even by 2040 would be an “aggressive” and “audacious” goal, given the Artemis timetable.

Trump’s remarks Monday could imply a call to skip the moon, effectively pulling the plug on Artemis, and instead focusing all government and industry efforts – and funding — on Mars. But the new president didn’t elaborate them. Nevertheless, putting people on Mars during his administration would represent a pedal-to-the-metal acceleration of U.S. space policy.

2. A major Mars fan has Trump’s ear

Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X and administrator of Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency, has a longstanding personal interest in colonizing Mars. As founder and CEO of SpaceX, he also has a significant financial interest.

The company has laid out a vision for robotic and crewed Mars missions aboard its Starship and Super Heavy rockets. Musk has said SpaceX’s craft could ferry a million colonists to the Red Planet by 2050, and the company announced in November it planned to launch the first uncrewed Starship Mars missions in late 2026, the next time the two planets are positioned to allow shorter trips.

Mars was on Musk’s mind in the leadup to the inauguration, where he sat behind Trump and flashed a thumbs-up at the Mars line. In a Jan. 2 post on his X platform, he wrote, “we’re going straight to Mars. The Moon is a distraction.”

3. Musk has struggled with Mars delays

Starship is not SpaceX’s first pass at a Mars spacecraft. The company spent years – and a reported $300 million — developing its original vessel, called Red Dragon. That craft was initially planned to make its first Mars launch in 2018, but the company scrapped it in 2017 in favor of the larger Starship.

SpaceX’s plans for Mars hinge on its Starship mega-rocket. The company has tested-launched Starship seven times, with three of those ending in explosions, most recently last week. The FAA temporarily grounded Starship after that incident, pending an investigation by SpaceX.

Musk has a history of optimistic predictions. In 2016, he suggested cargo flights to Mars aboard what would become Starship could happen in 2022, with crewed flights in 2024. None of that happened.

4. Trump probably isn’t saying goodnight to the Moon

Abandoning NASA’s moon program would be a major pivot for Trump. During his first administration, he signed Space Policy Directive 1, which laid the groundwork for what became the moon-focused Artemis program.

“The directive I am signing today will refocus America’s space program on human exploration and discovery,” Trump said Dec. 11, 2017. “It marks a first step in returning American astronauts to the Moon for the first time since 1972, for long-term exploration and use. This time, we will not only plant our flag and leave our footprints — we will establish a foundation for an eventual mission to Mars, and perhaps someday, to many worlds beyond.”

Trump’s initial focus on the moon was a shift away from a Mars-first space policy advocated by former President Barack Obama and was part of a focus on space that occupied a large part of Trump’s first administration.

Since then, Artemis has been a boon to most states and congressional districts. A recent study estimated NASA was responsible for $75.6 billion in economic output and over 300,000 jobs nationwide. Nearly a third of that output could be tied to Artemis and related programs, with Alabama among the top states to benefit, according to The Huntsville Times.

5. SpaceX stands to gain from the Artemis program

Despite Musk’s post, SpaceX and its CEO stand to benefit from any future Artemis successes. The company is a commercial partner of NASA, and its vehicles factor heavily into the space agency’s lunar plans.

Starship is scheduled to launch multiple missions to support the Human Landing System, which will ferry astronauts from the planned Lunar Gateway station to the Moon’s surface – aboard a SpaceX craft. And the company’s Falcon Heavy rocket is to lift two Lunar Gateway modules ahead of the Artemis IV mission. That is currently set for a September 2028 launch.