Jeff Bezos wants to create a robotic delivery service to the moon

The return of the New Shepard, a Blue Origin suborbital rocket, to Earth

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is actively involved in the development of various space programs. The main one is the creation of a returnable New Shepard rocket , which has already passed several successful tests. This rocket is intended to send tourists to near-Earth space. Bezos has more serious plans. For example, in 2016, he announced the start of work on the New Glenn heavy carrier rocket. According to the entrepreneur, the goal of the project is “millions of people who live and work in space”. And now Bezos spoke about another idea.

It is about developing a service for delivering payloads to the moon. More precisely, then to the South Pole of the natural satellite of the Earth, in the area of ​​the Shackleton crater. According to Bezos, such a delivery service will allow you to send the equipment necessary to create a colony to the moon. The basis of the new project is an automatic probe “messenger”. It will be put into space by a heavy launch vehicle (most likely New Glenn), after which the probe will go to the moon with a one-way ticket.

The probe can carry a 4.5 tons payload. The system is planned to be equipped with a robotic manipulator and scientific tools that will be useful for examining the surface of the moon before the arrival of the colonists.
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The project, according to Bezos, is planned to be implemented together with NASA. The Agency and the Presidential Administration Donald Trump have already sent the necessary technical documentation describing the lunar delivery service. According to the authors of the project, this program will allow founding and developing a settlement of people on the moon by the mid-20s. “A colony with people constantly residing on it is a difficult and expensive project,” says Bezos. But this, he believes, is not a reason to abandon exploration of the moon.

By the way, the head of Amazon and Blue Origin made his statement shortly after Ilon Musk, the head of SpaceX announced the launch of a program for the delivery of tourists to the Moon. According to the plan, two people will fly around the moon in a spacecraft in 2018. To send them into space, the Falcon Heavy rocket currently under development and the Dragon 2 spacecraft will be used. Most of the funding comes from tourists, the SpaceX business is to work on the technical side of the mission.

Bezos went further than Musk, intending not only to go to the Moon, but also to participate in the creation of the lunar colony, and also to create a reliable channel for the delivery of things necessary for the colonists. The possibility of implementing a similar project is now being evaluated by the specialists of the United Launch Alliance , which is supported by Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

It is quite possible that the interest of space companies in the Moon has intensified after the announcement of the new US president about the need to return there again. “I am very pleased with the opportunities that have opened up,” said Tori 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 the appropriate infrastructure right now - over the next four years. ”

Robert Bigelow, the founder of Bigelow Aerospace, which creates inflatable modules for the orbital station, said that by 2020 his company would be able to launch the production of modules to be sent to the lunar orbit. In his opinion, it’s too early to think about mastering Mars, rather you should pay attention to the Moon, which opens up tremendous business opportunities.


Bezos agrees with Bigelow: "I think that if you first go to the Moon, making it your home, then you can easily reach Mars." The head of Amazon and Blue Origin said that the first flight to the moon can be accomplished by July 2020. But this will be possible “only in the case of a partnership with NASA. Our work with liquid hydrogen and the experience of making an accurate vertical landing is the possibility of quickly implementing the mission of the lunar lender. " Bezos says he will be happy to finance such an important program. So far it is difficult to judge how the words of the head of Blue Orogin are supported by real possibilities. He currently has neither a heavy launch vehicle, nor the robotic module itself, nor NASA support. But the project is planned to be implemented within three years. Is it possible? It is difficult to say, but I would hope that Blue Origin will act quickly, observing the stated deadlines.

In addition to the above-mentioned initiatives, the ESA also plans to explore the moon. The project of Europeans was named Moon Village , its main goal - the foundation of a colony of earthlings on the moon. And at the end of this year, members of the Google Lunar X Prize plan to show off their own lunar probes. One of the five participating teams, Moon Express, talks about plans to create its own Moon delivery service, such as the FedEx Earth service.

Many companies want to explore the moon, part of them are each other’s direct competitors. And this is good, because if competition is the engine of progress, then people have good chances to get a settlement on the Moon in the foreseeable future.