Jeff Bezos says NASA should return to the Moon, and he’s ready to help

[kevindavis007]

“It’s time for America to go back to the Moon and this time to stay.”


Until the last year, Jeff Bezos has kept the plans for his rocket company, Blue Origin, largely under wraps. Since then, he has talked about doing suborbital space tourism flights, building an orbital rocket, and now he has begun to open up about ambitions beyond low Earth orbit. And unlike SpaceX and its Mars ambitions, Blue Origin has its focus on the Moon.


The Washington Post first reported on the "Blue Moon" concept Thursday evening, which Bezos has articulated in a seven-page white paper sent to NASA leadership and President Trump's transition officials over the last two months. The proposal outlines a plan to build a lunar spacecraft and lander to deliver supplies to the South Pole of the Moon, where scientists believe there are abundant ice resources and almost continuous solar energy.


Read More: http://www.isn-news.net/2017/03/jeff-bezos-says-nasa-should-return-to.html

[kevindavis007]

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[Cripplecreek]

I want to see these guys set their sights on landing and staying on the moon for an extended period.

[kevindavis007]

I want to see these guys set their sights on landing and staying on the moon for an extended period.

I think that is going to happen..

[Cripplecreek]

I think that is going to happen..

They talk about space tourism but it needs to be more than a ride in a ship.

At the very least it needs to be a habitat on the moon and the tourists will need to be able to get out on the surface.

[kevindavis007]

They talk about space tourism but it needs to be more than a ride in a ship.

At the very least it needs to be a habitat on the moon and the tourists will need to be able to get out on the surface.

Well from what I seen it is going to be happening.. ;)

[geronl]

as long as taxpayers foot the bill, a lot are willing to help

[Oceander]

as long as taxpayers foot the bill, a lot are willing to help

Exactly. 

[Cripplecreek]

as long as taxpayers foot the bill, a lot are willing to help

I'm OK with it as a first step. The first voyage of Columbus was funded by Spain and crewed by convicts. Following trips were heavily funded by private investors and crewed by men seeking their fortunes. The same is true of Lewis and Clark. They did the government funded pathfinding and prospecting but were followed by a flood of private explorers.

I think we need both a federal (Military) and private presence in space and this is a start.

I don't really see a huge financial gain in space hotels and rides on spaceships but I think they have value in the sense that they make men want to go further. When I mentioned to Chis Hadfield on twitter that I could never be satisfied with the ISS he agreed that it was hard to be on the space station and know he wasn't going further.

The further a man goes, the further he wants to go.

[Just_Victor]

Has Bezos even started cutting metal for his craft?

Methinks this is just a ploy to generate funds.

[Oceander]

I'm OK with it as a first step. The first voyage of Columbus was funded by Spain and crewed by convicts. Following trips were heavily funded by private investors and crewed by men seeking their fortunes. The same is true of Lewis and Clark. They did the government funded pathfinding and prospecting but were followed by a flood of private explorers.

I think we need both a federal (Military) and private presence in space and this is a start.

I don't really see a huge financial gain in space hotels and rides on spaceships but I think they have value in the sense that they make men want to go further. When I mentioned to Chis Hadfield on twitter that I could never be satisfied with the ISS he agreed that it was hard to be on the space station and know he wasn't going further.

The further a man goes, the further he wants to go.

Hasn't that first step - government funded - already been taken with the Moon?

[Cripplecreek]

Hasn't that first step - government funded - already been taken with the Moon?

This is a little more involved than crossing an ocean or crossing a continent and neither government or the private sector is going to go it alone until they get some infrastructure built that they can both use. Same as the settlement of the west, the military opened forts all across the frontier.

[Oceander]

This is a little more involved than crossing an ocean or crossing a continent and neither government or the private sector is going to go it alone until they get some infrastructure built that they can both use. Same as the settlement of the west, the military opened forts all across the frontier.

Yes, but the West was settled by private individuals who went in small groups, with little or no government protection or help at all, and often enough settled on plots of land in unprotected areas teeming with hostile natives. 

I agree that the necessary equipment is much more than a prairie schooner, oxen, and a rifle, but that does qualitatively change who settled the West.