COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Jeff Bezos' private spaceflight company Blue Origin is working on a lunar cargo delivery surface, which could be used to support human settlements on the surface of the moon or in orbit. While the program was just announced last month, the company has already spent years developing the necessary technology.
Wednesday (April 5), here at the 33rd annual Space Symposium, Blue Origin President Robert Meyerson said the lunar delivery program, called Blue Moon, will "directly leverage" the technology used in the company's New Shepard reusable rocket system. The company is marketing the suborbital rocket primarily for space tourism.
"Blue Moon directly leverages our New Shepard proven vertical takeoff and vertical landing technology, combined with our extensive liquid propulsion capabilities to reduce development time and risk," Meyerson said.
Meyerson didn't provide any more details about the lunar landing system, but a story published March 2 in The Washington Post (which Bezos purchased in 2014) said that the Blue Moon vehicle would land on the lunar surface similar to how the New Shepard reusable rocket booster lands in a vertical position after flight. The article also said the Blue Moon system could carry "as much as 10,000 pounds of material."
The New Shepard suborbital rockets have yet to fly customer payloads, but test flights have shown that the rockets can land vertically, and that the boosters can be reused for subsequent flights.
Blue Origin representatives have said that reusable rockets will lower the cost of access to space, and the company plans to make a reusable first-stage booster for its upcoming orbital rocket, New Glenn.
"Reusability is the holy grail of rocketry," Meyerson said.
Apparently, it could also help establish human colonies on the moon.
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