Jeff Bezos Will Do Whatever He Can To Put Humans On The Moon

Just like Elon Musk, the world richest man also has his own set of extraterrestrial dreams. Amazon CEO Jef Bezos spoke at the Space Development Conference in Los Angeles where he said that his company Blue Origin will work with NASA and European Space Agency to put humans on the moon, at least, start the colonization.

However, inhabiting moon is just a part of the bigger picture Bezos has in his mind. And that includes people working in hollowed-out asteroids.

He said we could use the earth for living and lightweight industry while the heavy industry would be shifted to solar-powered space stations. This could happen in the “not-too-distant future”, maybe the 100 years because “we’ll have so much energy” to do things we currently do on earth in space.

This is actually the need considering the rapid pace at which the earth’s resources are being exploited. But why Moon? Because it’s conveniently located and easily reachable. Moreover, deposits of water ice have been discovered near the moon’s pole that could be turned into drinkable water and propellants for rockets.

“It’s almost like somebody set this up for us,” he said.

Blue Origin is designing a lunar lander capable of delivering 5 ton of payload to the Moon. That’s enough for transporting humans. But if the moon lander has to take its maiden flight by mid-2020s, support is required. The company aims for a public-private partnership with NASA to achieve its goals.

“By the way, we’ll do that, even if NASA doesn’t do it.”

“We’ll do it eventually. We could do it a lot faster if there were a partnership.”

Bezos also admires the European Space Agency’s idea of a “Moon Village” where different nations working in harmony could have their lunar outposts in close proximity.

The CEO is spending a big chunk of his money to fuel Blue Origin and his space ambitions. He would do so until “other people take over the vision, or I’ll run out of money.”

Source: GeekWire