Amazon CEO unveils giant lunar lander to help people settle on moon

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos revealed its long awaited plans to go to the moon by unveiling a new moon lander made by his firm Blue Origin, with an ultimate goal of settling down humans on moon.

In an event held on Thursday, billionaire Bezos showed off a brand new design of its ‘Blue Moon’ lander, which has been in works since the past three years, aimed to carry 6.5 tons to moon’s surface.

Bezos, however, pointed out a problem of running out of energy. “A very fundamental long-range problem is that we will run out of energy on Earth,” Bezos said. “This is just arithmetic. It will happen.” The solution he proposed was to look elsewhere for energy sources in the solar system.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos believes we’ll live in ‘giant space colonies’ in future

The new lunar lander will be placed in Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket, featuring an entirely new BE-7 engine with 10,000 pounds of thrust. The engine will burn hydrogen with oxygen – the two ingredients of water and can be made from ice deposits on the moon, reported Business Insider.

“We’re using liquid hydrogen because, ultimately, we’re going to be able to get hydrogen from that water on the moon and be able to refuel these vehicles on the surface,” Bezos said.

Bezos even guaranteed that the modified version of the Blue Moon lander could be strong enough to carry a pressurized ascent vehicle for astronauts to the moon’s surface. The lander has been described as being capable of ‘precise and soft landings’ to enable a ‘sustained human presence on the moon’.

Moreover, though Bezos didn’t specify a clear date, the firm believes that it can put humans back to moon by 2024, as per Engadget. The rocket will fire test for the first time by this summer.

“Please make no mistake about this: Earth is the best planet. It isn’t close. We do need to protect it, it’s essential, it’s our job. We’re now big enough to hurt this planet. We have to use the resources of space,” Bezos expressed. “We must have a future for our grandchildren and their grandchildren of dynamism — we cannot let them fall prey to stasis and rationing.”