Jeff Bezos, photo by James Duncan Davidson
This week, founder of online retailer Amazon Jeffrey Bezos may announce his plans for cargo delivery to the moon. According to The Washington Post, Mr. Bezos previously sent his plan to United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the US President's team. Mr. Bezos called upon NASA to support his plans for development of a spacecraft a system of delivery to the moon. The proposed system is similar to already existing at Amazon. It can be launched already in 2020, and, in Bezos’ opinion, will facilitate "future human settlements "on the Earth's satellite. "It is time to return America to the Moon - to stay there this time. Permanent settlement on the Moon is a difficult and worthy task. I think many people are excited about it", - Amazon’s founder said.
The Washington Post, which is owned by Mr. Bezos, received a copy of his appeal sent to the NASA team and Donald Trump on January 4. The plan describes a spacecraft called Blue Moon, which will be able to deliver 4.5 tons of various cargoes to the Moon. At that, Jeffrey Bezos is going to ferry people.
Back in 2000, Mr. Bezos created Blue Origin space company. In September 2016 Blue Origin announced a heavy-class launch vehicle space called New Glenn to list cargos in an orbit. "Our goal is millions of people who live and work in space, and New Glenn is an important step in this direction", - said Jeffrey Bezos then.
Blue Origin is not the only commercial company engaged in aerospace engineering. SpaceX, founded by billionaire Elon Musk, has already conducted several tests of its own returnable launch vehicle Falcon 9. Blue Origin is also working on reusable carrier rockets. Last week, SpaceX announced its intention to send two individuals to fly around the moon at the end of next year.
However, Bezos went further than Musk. Not only is he going to fly around the Moon, but also to take part in creation of a lunar colony and a reliable delivery channel for colonists. Specialists of United Launch Alliance, supported by Boeing and Lockheed Martin, are now assessing a possibility to implement a similar project.
It is possible that space companies became interested in the Moon projects after hearing announcement of US president about the need to go back again. "I am very pleased to the opened opportunities," - said Tory Bruno, Executive Director of the United Launch Alliance. - "This administration, as far as we can see, feels the need to achieve results. This is an opportunity to start building an appropriate infrastructure right now and over the next four years."
Not only Blue Origin and SpaceX are fond of the Moon theme. For example, Google has already announced finalists of its Google Lunar XPRIZE, other scientists launched Moonspike, a project to design and built a rocket and spacecraft to deliver a cargo to the Earth’s satellite, and Russia plans to build a 3D-printer to print stone objects on the Moon.
source: washingtonpost.com
The Washington Post, which is owned by Mr. Bezos, received a copy of his appeal sent to the NASA team and Donald Trump on January 4. The plan describes a spacecraft called Blue Moon, which will be able to deliver 4.5 tons of various cargoes to the Moon. At that, Jeffrey Bezos is going to ferry people.
Back in 2000, Mr. Bezos created Blue Origin space company. In September 2016 Blue Origin announced a heavy-class launch vehicle space called New Glenn to list cargos in an orbit. "Our goal is millions of people who live and work in space, and New Glenn is an important step in this direction", - said Jeffrey Bezos then.
Blue Origin is not the only commercial company engaged in aerospace engineering. SpaceX, founded by billionaire Elon Musk, has already conducted several tests of its own returnable launch vehicle Falcon 9. Blue Origin is also working on reusable carrier rockets. Last week, SpaceX announced its intention to send two individuals to fly around the moon at the end of next year.
However, Bezos went further than Musk. Not only is he going to fly around the Moon, but also to take part in creation of a lunar colony and a reliable delivery channel for colonists. Specialists of United Launch Alliance, supported by Boeing and Lockheed Martin, are now assessing a possibility to implement a similar project.
It is possible that space companies became interested in the Moon projects after hearing announcement of US president about the need to go back again. "I am very pleased to the opened opportunities," - said Tory Bruno, Executive Director of the United Launch Alliance. - "This administration, as far as we can see, feels the need to achieve results. This is an opportunity to start building an appropriate infrastructure right now and over the next four years."
Not only Blue Origin and SpaceX are fond of the Moon theme. For example, Google has already announced finalists of its Google Lunar XPRIZE, other scientists launched Moonspike, a project to design and built a rocket and spacecraft to deliver a cargo to the Earth’s satellite, and Russia plans to build a 3D-printer to print stone objects on the Moon.
source: washingtonpost.com