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Jeff Bezos Is Planning To Ship 'Several Metric Tons of Cargo' To the Moon (vice.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the prime-delivery dept.

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin aerospace company is planning to send "several metric tons" of unspecified cargo to the Moon in the next five years. The company reportedly signed a letter of intent with Germany aerospace companies OHB Space Systems and Security and MT Aerospace at the 69th annual International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Germany on Tuesday. The OHB dubbed the lunar project the "Blue Moon" mission in a press release. Motherboard reports: It's not clear exactly what cargo the Blue Moon mission would transport, but it likely includes infrastructure designed to start private business on the Moon: The IAC also detailed the launch of the "Moon Race," a competition between Blue Origin, Airbus Air and Space, and other space agencies around the world to develop technology that will bring companies around the world to the Moon. According to a press release, the competition could involve manufacturing products and technology, manufacturing energy sources for humans to survive, getting access to water and sustaining biological life, such as plant or agricultural life -- all on the Moon. Blue Origin said in a press release that both the Blue Moon mission and Moon Race are in line with its goal to "land large payloads on the Moon that can access and utilize the resources found there."

4 of 108 comments (clear)

  1. He doesn't know what the cargo is yet by AmiMoJo · · Score: 5, Funny

    Bezos just wants to be ready for the first Amazon Prime shipment to the moon. 2 day shipping will be a bit of a challenge.

    --
    const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
    SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  2. "unspecified cargo"? by 21st+Century+Peon · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm assuming it'll mostly be union organisers.

    --
    "Knowledge, sir, should be free to all!"
    ~Harcourt Fenton Mudd
    1. Re:"unspecified cargo"? by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 4, Funny

      And Alice Kramden

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    2. Re:"unspecified cargo"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Or Amazon's financial information:

      "The letter of the law says we have to allow the tax man access to our accounts information to fulfil our legal obligations and we've told him exactly where they are and the access code but he's not bothered to audit them, so it's not OUR fault if you think we're not paying enough tax, we did try and work with the tax authorities. It's governments fault for not making sure that legislation explicitly states tax records must be held on Earth. They should change the law if they don't like it because we're simply doing what our shareholders would want and following the letter of the law!"