Jeff Bezos Plans To Take Blue Origin To The Moon

After years of silent prep work, Blue Origin is ready to take one giant leap. The side project of Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN CEO Jeff Bezos has crafted a plan not only for lunar landing, but for lunar inhabiting.

At a Thursday press conference, Bezos warned again of the inevitable depletion of earth’s energy sources. A future of rationing awaits mankind, he said. 

Bezos reiterated his interest in tapping space resources to address earth’s impending energy shortages and proposed a plan to develop “O’Neill colonies” — self-sustaining habitats in space that could support human, animal and plant life. 

It’s a vision not unlike the Mars colony envisioned by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. Fortunately for Tesla Inc TSLA’s sister company, nobody else is eyeing its real estate.

"It's time to go back to the moon," Bezos said. “This time to stay.”

The Plan 

“The price of admission to do interesting things in space right now is just too high because there’s no infrastructure," Bezos said.

But as always, he has a plan. Bezos introduced Blue Origin’s lunar lander, Blue Moon. “This is an incredible vehicle, and it’s going to the moon,” he said.

The spacecraft can carry a large rover, achieve a soft landing, and launch an ascent stage from the moon’s surface, Bezos said.

It is equipped with Blue Origin’s new BE-7 rocket engine, which has been in the works for three years and is scheduled for testing this summer.

Potential Partners 

Blue Origin has about six buyers eyeing the lunar lander, including academic institutions, Bezos said.

The Trump administration has encouraged NASA to return to the moon, but it's unclear whether the agency sees Blue Origin as a potential partner. 

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Photo courtesy of Blue Origin.