Jeff Bezos Unveils Lunar-Lander for 'Sustained Human Presence' on the Moon
On Thursday in Washington, DC, Jeff Bezos — billionaire and founder of Amazon —unveiled a massive lunar-lander created by his rocket company Blue Origin.
He says that it'll soon go to space and is designed to help establish "sustained human presence" on the moon one day.
The lander, named "Blue Moon," is crafted to transport a vast array of sizes and types of payloads, or additional equipment, to the moon. The model revealed on Thursday, can reportedly carry robotic and infrastructure payloads weighing up to 7 tons (6.5 metric tonnes) to the moon. However, the Blue Origin website also claims that a larger version of Blue Moon has been developed to land an ascent vehicle that will allow Americans to return to the moon by 2024.
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"Blue Moon can deliver payloads to the lunar surface, host payloads and even deploy payloads during its journey to the Moon," reads a statement on the Blue Origin website. "Its technology builds on our experience with New Shepard with respect to LH2/LOX propulsion, precision guidance, vertical landing and landing gear systems."
The announcement of "Blue" comes after years of Bezos' company dropping hints about it to the public. In that time, NASA has funneled millions of dollars in grants to help fund the development of the lunar-lander technology.
Business Insider reported that this might have something to do with Bezos' angling for NASA's attention, as the government organization is currently attempting to attract private firms to design and build a spacecraft to bring astronauts back to the on the moon by 2024.
