Jeff Bezos talks about his moon colony plans

[midian182]

Why it matters: World’s richest man Jeff Bezos has already spoken about his ambition for humanity to return to the moon. Now, he’s elaborated on these plans, which includes Blue Origin working with NASA and the European Space Agency to create a permanent settlement on the surface.

Speaking at the Space Development Conference in Los Angeles on Friday, Bezos said that even if the space agencies aren’t open to a partnership, he is willing to do what needs to be done to make the dream of a moon settlement a reality.

Bezos said one of the first goals is to reduce the costs associated with space travel. Blue Origin hopes this will be the case with the New Glenn rocket, which has a reusable first-stage booster and should provide commercial launch services for satellites in the 2020s. Providing there’s enough support, the company hopes to launch its Blue Moon lander (below) by the middle of the next decade. It's capable of delivering five tons of payload to the lunar surface.

A moon colony might sound like the stuff of science fiction, but Bezos says all the elements are there, such as 24/7 sunlight for solar power and deposits of water ice that could be turned into drinkable water, air, and rocket propellant. “It’s almost like somebody set this up for us,” Bezos said.

The CEO added that moving heavy industries to the moon will help our planet cope with rising power demands and a growing population. The idea is for Earth to be reserved for “residential and light industrial” purposes. He also suggested that some people might live and work in hollowed asteroids.

“The Earth is not a very good place to do heavy industry. It’s convenient for us right now,” Bezos said. “But in the not-too-distant future — I’m talking decades, maybe 100 years — it’ll start to be easier to do a lot of the things that we currently do on Earth in space, because we’ll have so much energy.”

Bezos is funding Blue Origin with his own money. While the chances of him ever going broke are pretty slim, he told GeekWire that if such an unlikely scenario does come to pass, “other people will take over the vision.”

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https://www.techspot.com/news/74824-jeff-bezos-talks-about-moon-colony-plans.html

 

[wiyosaya]

At least he is working with people who know the business and who do not have their heads so far up their a$$ that they cannot see the reality of the technical issues that are involved in such a venture. This is not a simple problem, and will be difficult, at least as I see it, by any measure to accomplish.

I will be disappointed, though, if he sends his car into space, too.

 

[merikafyeah]

Musk has Mars, Bezos got the Moon, but who's got the deep sea? People forget that the abyss is just as inhospitable and challenging to explore as outer space and it's likely the closest we'll ever get to exploring an alien world teeming with bizarre lifeforms which defy human imagination. Could there be a giant creature which makes the colossal squid look like a shrimp? The best part is we don't know, but it's not impossible.

Everything is impossible until it's done, and creatures don't exist until they're found.

 

[treetops]

Seems pointless and a waste of resources. Unless we could terraform it.

 

[Ean Mogg]

Thank god a man that knows where to go as everyone says go to Mars why! it might have water but it will never be terraformed without doing it consistently because Mars due to lack of magnetosphere won't keep an atmosphere and the dust can kill you if breathed it in so I'd go to the moon anyday over Mars as you don't have to worry about terraforming, I'm not saying the Moon is safe as Moon dust is just as bad but with better ionizers and scrubbers both Mars and the Moon will be a lot more comfortable the Moon is the best financial option..

 

[MarkHughes]

Musk has Mars, Bezos got the Moon, but who's got the deep sea?

James Cameron isn't it ? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0napnfxd-dU

 

[Reachable]

This is insane and cruel! Imagine the quality of life living on the moon!

 

[captaincranky]

It's nice to see someone who enjoys pontificating about their fantasies, all the while being infatuated with, and completely immersed in, the sound of their own voice, as comprehensively as is Elon Musk.

Hey, maybe they'll fight to the death like in the "Highlander" movies. After all, when you're that out of touch with reality,the next step off of "crazy ridge and into the abyss", would be to start believing that, "in the end there can be only one".

Besides, if Bezos establishes his lunar colony first, he could always try and shoot down Musk's Mars missions as they pass by. (y)

 

[captaincranky]

"The CEO added that moving heavy industries to the moon will help our planet cope with rising power demands and a growing population. The idea is for Earth to be reserved for “residential and light industrial” purposes. He also suggested that some people might live and work in hollowed asteroids."

Or, we could pump our city water supplies full of estrogen and progesterone, and stay right where we are. We'd be living the dream, with either zero growth, or diminishing populations..(y)

Although the fishing industry would likely collapse after doing so. Oh well, no plan is perfect.

 

[Uncle Al]

You can bet one thing for sure ..... NO free shipping to or from the moon!

 

[Badvok]

... all the while being infatuated with, and completely immersed in, the sound of their own voice, as comprehensively as I.

FTFY.

 

[Trillionsin]

If we add enough weight to the moon, maybe it'll stop slippin' away. teeheee

 

[koblongata]

An exciting vacation destination? Yes!
Colonization? No!

Not until we can modify genes to make a different kind of human. This is so Blade Runner.

 

[captaincranky]

If we add enough weight to the moon, maybe it'll stop slippin' away. teeheee

Unfortunately, Mr. Bezo's plan, seems to be taking away material from the moon and bringing to earth.

I suppose it's anybody's guess, as to whether the mass added to earth will prevent the moon's retreat, or the system would still have the same lack of equilibrium, and the moon would still be leaving for the sun, via Venus, the day after tomorrow.

 

[captaincranky]

An exciting vacation destination? Yes!
Colonization? No!

Not until we can modify genes to make a different kind of human. This is so Blade Runner.

Well,unless Bezos builds his colony based on the standard amusement park "Tilt-a-Whirl" ride, or maybe the "Hell Hole", all you'll wind up with is weak humans, with drastically reduced bone density.

Now, OTOH, Jupiter's gravity would, "pump you up".

 

[Trillionsin]

An exciting vacation destination? Yes!
Colonization? No!

Not until we can modify genes to make a different kind of human. This is so Blade Runner.

Did you just watch The Titan? lol

 

[koblongata]

Did you just watch The Titan? lol

I really do hope we can migrate to the Moon or Mars or whatever, and have kids, grand kids so on, and they are healthy and happy for life, without any deficiencies or anomalies. I REALLY DO.

 

[captaincranky]

I really do hope we can migrate to the Moon or Mars or whatever, and have kids, grand kids so on, and they are healthy and happy for life, without any deficiencies or anomalies. I REALLY DO.

From Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitation_of_the_Moon

"The acceleration due to gravity on the surface of the Moon is about 1.625 m/s2, about 16.6% that on Earth's surface or 0.16 ɡ.[1] Over the entire surface, the variation in gravitational acceleration is about 0.0253 m/s2 (1.6% of the acceleration due to gravity). Because weight is directly dependent upon gravitational acceleration, things on the Moon will weigh only 16.6% of what they weigh on the Earth".

Which means with Homo sapiens' current physiology, any humans there long term would be weak, and spindly. Now about 1,000,000 years of evolution would likely create beings suited to those conditions.(*)

Well, save for the "universal solvent", which as you may or may not know, is "water". Water is at the base of every industrial process on earth. It weighs about 66 pounds per cubic foot. Which by extension means, it would take a crap load of rocket fuel to get enough to the moon for people to drink, let alone start manufacturing processes. To the upside, there aren't any rivers, streams, or lakes on the moon which could be polluted by industrial runoff. (y)

So, Jeff Bezos is talking out his a**, in an effort to offset what Elon Musk has spouted from his rectal megaphone, for the sake of publicity. In others words, Bezos sees the amount of notoriety Musk has acheived by spouting nonsense which attaches to young, naive imaginations, and Bezos want a bigger share of said exposure.

It's also well known that, "if wishes were horses, beggars would ride".

That's a double edged sword, because I wish some people around would put down their comic books, crack pipes, and smartphones, get their heads out of their behinds, and make an honest appraisal of what is actually possible..... In other words, it's time for a good, long, "reality check".......... I REALLY DO!


(*) This assumes that Musk hasn't conjured up a theory which debunks Darwin's, for the sake of spinning his tall tails. < (Apologies for the mixed metaphor).

 

[mbrowne5061]

I really do hope we can migrate to the Moon or Mars or whatever, and have kids, grand kids so on, and they are healthy and happy for life, without any deficiencies or anomalies. I REALLY DO.

From Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitation_of_the_Moon

"The acceleration due to gravity on the surface of the Moon is about 1.625 m/s2, about 16.6% that on Earth's surface or 0.16 ɡ.[1] Over the entire surface, the variation in gravitational acceleration is about 0.0253 m/s2 (1.6% of the acceleration due to gravity). Because weight is directly dependent upon gravitational acceleration, things on the Moon will weigh only 16.6% of what they weigh on the Earth".

Which means with Homo sapiens' current physiology, any humans there long term would be weak, and spindly. Now about 1,000,000 years of evolution would likely create beings suited to those conditions.(*)

Well, save for the "universal solvent", which as you may or may not know, is "water". Water is at the base of every industrial process on earth. It weighs about 66 pounds per cubic foot. Which by extension means, it would take a crap load of rocket fuel to get enough to the moon for people to drink, let alone start manufacturing processes. To the upside, there aren't any rivers, streams, or lakes on the moon which could be polluted by industrial runoff. (y)

So, Jeff Bezos is talking out his a**, in an effort to offset what Elon Musk has spouted from his rectal megaphone, for the sake of publicity. In others words, Bezos sees the amount of notoriety Musk has acheived by spouting nonsense which attaches to young, naive imaginations, and Bezos want a bigger share of said exposure.

It's also well known that, "if wishes were horses, beggars would ride".

That's a double edged sword, because I wish some people around would put down their comic books, crack pipes, and smartphones, get their heads out of their behinds, and make an honest appraisal of what is actually possible..... In other words, it's time for a good, long, "reality check".......... I REALLY DO!


(*) This assumes that Musk hasn't conjured up a theory which debunks Darwin's, for the sake of spinning his tall tails. < (Apologies for the mixed metaphor).

The Lunar poles have frozen water on them, and there is evidence suggesting that a lot of the regolith has water frozen beneath the surface too. The moon did comes from Earth, after all.