Jeff Bezos announces Moon mission alongside Blue Moon lander

Blue Origin keen to send a lander to the Moon.

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Amazon owner and billionaire Jeff Bezos has announced his company - Blue Origin's plan to build a lunar lander. Bezos touted his ambitions to land on the Moon by capitalizing on the new Trump administration pushing to establish an outpost within the next five years.

 
Jeff Bezos announces Moon mission alongside Blue Moon lander

Bezos revealed a mockup of the unmanned lander called Blue Moon during an hour-long presentation at Washington's convention center, just a few blocks away from the White House.

 

The lander will deliver payloads to the Moon, deploy up to four rovers and place satellites to orbit the Moon, Bezos told the audience, which included NASA officials and potential buyers of the new lander.

The new announcement follows NASA announcement of the plan to build a space platform in lunar orbit and send astronauts to the south pole by 2024 "by any means necessary." This is actually four years earlier than previously planned.

"I love this," Bezos said of Pence's timeline. "We can help meet that timeline but only because we started three years ago. It's time to go back to the moon, this time to stay."

During his presentation, Bezos also showcased a model of one of the rovers, which is basically the size of a golf cart. He also unveiled a new rocket engine dubbed BE-7, which can blast 10,000 pounds (4,535 kg) of thrust.

Recently, Jeff Bezos also took a jibe at SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. During a recent talk, Bezos expanded his vision on settling in space. While speaking on the topic, he also critiqued Musk's most ambitious project of colonizing Mars.

"We have sent robotic probes now to every planet in this solar system, and this is the best one," Bezos said during a private lecture. "My friends, who want to move to Mars? I say, 'Do me a favor, go live on the top of Mount Everest for a year first, and see if you like it.' Because it's a garden paradise compared to Mars."

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