Jeff Bezos, Amazon's CEO, wants to set up a lunar cargo delivery service to send stuff over to the moon.
According to The Washington Post, Bezos, who owns Blue Origin, a private space travel company, has written an internal report suggesting that a good delivery service is key to establishing a lasting human presence on the moon.
Delivery Service Key To Lunar Human Colonies
More than four decades have passed since a person has trekked the lunar surface. Since then, space travel and exploration has remained somewhat in low spirits. But space entrepreneurs are now attempting to capitalize on NASA's rekindled interest in lunar travel, coughing up a handful of proposals all leading to the commence of human colonies in our nearest neighbor in space.
The Moon Is Prime's Next Shipping Location
The confidential white paper was obtained and authenticated by Christian Davenport of The Washington Post, which Amazon also owns. In the document, Bezos hopes to push NASA into developing "incentives to the private sector to demonstrate a commercial lunar cargo delivery service" no longer than 2020, which might essentially establish our own moon as Prime's first shipping location outside Earth.
Jokes aside, the plans are pretty detailed. According to The Washington Post's report, Amazon aims to develop a lunar spacecraft with a lander that would dock near the Shackleton Crater, located at the moon's south pole, a place with water and sunlight. The paper urges NASA to support Amazon's notional shipment service that would bring gear for experiments, as much as 10,000 pounds of cargo, and habitats to aid "future human settlement" on the moon.
"It is time for America to return to the Moon — this time to stay," Bezos told the Post in an email. Though Bezos considers prospects of a lunar settlement difficult, he thinks its a worthy objective. "I sense a lot of people are excited about this."
Bezos's proposal comes just after Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX, announced this week that the company has plans to send two private citizens on a trip around the moon by 2018.
Bezos's proposal has reportedly been given to NASA and Trump's transition team in the hopes of giving Blue Origin a lead in any forthcoming lunar projects. The news comes at an interesting time of rekindled interest for the moon, which The Verge notes was largely overlooked during Obama's term to focus on Mars instead. Trump's administration may be rerouting its focus by pushing for speedier and less expensive trips to the moon before Trump leaves his post.
The proposals doesn't involve flying humans to the moon like SpaceX's plans do, but is instead more focused on facilitating a series of cargo missions.
Bezos Eager To Work With NASA And Shell Out His Own Cash
It's surprising that Blue Origin, once very secretive of its plans, is now attempting to partner with NASA for a greater cause. Bezos wrote that Blue Origin could facilitate its first lunar mission as early as July 2020, but not without stressing that such an endeavor can only be achieved with NASA's help.
"I'm excited about this and am ready to invest my own money alongside NASA to make it happen," Bezos wrote.
Do you think establishing a lunar cargo delivery service will be beneficial in springboarding human settlement in the moon? Feel free to sound off in the comments section below!
