![Jeff Bezos [image courtesy Jurvetson flickr]](https://staticr1.blastingcdn.com/media/photogallery/2018/5/27/660x290/b_502x220x82/jeff-bezos-image-courtesy-jurvetson-flickr_2013049.jpg "Jeff Bezos [image courtesy Jurvetson flickr]")
Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon.com and Blue Origin, made another announcement at the recent International Space Development Conference in Los Angeles. Besides saving the show “The Expanse,” Bezos proposes to go back to the moon. He has a plan about how to do it and a vision as to why it should be done, according to Geek Wire.
Blue Moon to the lunar surface
Bezos stated that his space company Blue Origin has a vehicle on the drawing board called Blue Moon that can deliver five tons to the lunar surface. The capacity would be quite enough to deliver either cargo or people to the moon.
Blue Origin already has plenty of experience with vertical takeoff and landing vehicles with its New Shepard rocket. Given support from NASA, Bezos suggests that Blue Moon could be ready to fly by the mid-2020s.
What to do when we get back to the moon
Bezos ruminated about using robots to build a lunar base. He is very keen on the European concept of a Moon village, in which various space agencies and private companies collocate their habitats for mutual support. Bezos, by the way, is not just looking at NASA as a potential partner. He recently invited the newly minted Australian Space Agency to come along with him back to the moon. Indeed, his short-term vision seems to be to form the go-to transportation line for anyone to go to the moon.
He will, no doubt, find himself with competition as things develop.
The long-term vision for the moon
Bezos has made no secret of his long-term ambitions. He would like to remake human civilization so that the Earth is zoned for residential and light industry and space becomes the venue of heavy industry and a lot of people, a trillion when all is said and done.
Factories in space would use raw materials mined from the moon and asteroids and would be powered by 24/7 solar energy. Industrial pollution would become a thing of the past on Earth, but human prosperity and standards of living would continue to grow and spread.
Bezos’ vision is indeed more potent than the traditional flags and footsteps of the Apollo program.
The Amazon and Blue Origin entrepreneur suggests that the alternative is not altogether agreeable. He does not, as others have done, argue that the alternative to going out into space is the end of civilization. However, he does posit that without the boundless space and resources of the high frontier, human beings are doomed to live a life of stasis, in which freedom and happiness have self-imposed limits.
