Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin space venture has reportedly proposed sending a robotic lander to the moon's south polar region by 2020, as an initial step toward an "Amazon-like" lunar delivery system and eventually a permanently inhabited moon base.
As described by the Blue Origin's white paper, the proposal seeks NASA's support for sending a "Blue Moon" lander to Shackleton Crater near the moon's south pole. The lander would be designed to carry up to 10,000 pounds of payload. It could be launched by Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket, which is currently under development, or by other vehicles including NASA's Space Launch System or United Launch Alliance's Atlas 5.
"It is time for America to return to the moon — this time to stay," Bezos said in response to emailed questions from The Post. "A permanently inhabited lunar settlement is a difficult and worthy objective. I sense a lot of people are excited about this."
Blue Origin's proposal, dated Jan. 4, doesn't involve flying humans, but rather is focused on a series of cargo missions. Those could deliver the equipment necessary to help establish a human colony on the moon, unlike the Apollo missions, in which the astronauts left "flags and footprints" and then came home.
The prospect of a lunar mission has several companies lining up to provide not just transportation, but also habitats, science experiments and even the ability to mine the moon for resources.
Last year, Blue Origin successfully launched and landed its suborbital rocket, the New Shepard, five times within less than a year, flying just past the 62-mile edge of space and then landing vertically on a landing pad at the company's west Texas facility.
Last year, Blue Origin successfully launched and landed its suborbital rocket, the New Shepard, five times within less than a year, flying just past the 62-mile edge of space and then landing vertically on a landing pad at the company's west Texas facility.
"Once on the surface, the lander's useful payload can be used to conduct science or deploy rovers," the company said. "A robotic arm attached to the lander will deploy to examine the lunar surface with an array of instruments."
Blue Moon is all about cost-effective delivery of mass to the surface of the moon. Any credible first lunar settlement will require that capability.— Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder.
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