--- title: "Jeff Bezos Just Unveiled Blue Origin’s Moon Lander" description: "Jeff Bezos' private space company Blue Origin revealed its plans to go to the Moon at a mysterious press event today, including a lunar lander design." date: "2019-05-09" modified: "2019-05-09" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/blue-origin-moon-lander" categories: - "Astronomy" - "Blue Origin" - "Future Society" - "Jeff Bezos" - "Moon" - "Space" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "blue origin" - "jeff bezos" - "lunar lander" - "moon" --- # Jeff Bezos Just Unveiled Blue Origin’s Moon Lander ![Jeff Bezos' private space company Blue Origin revealed its plans to go to the Moon at a mysterious press event today, including a lunar lander design.]() *\Image: Blue Origin\* ## Alexa, Take Me to the Moon Jeff Bezos' private space company Blue Origin revealed its long-awaited plans to go to the Moon at a [mysterious press event]() today. Bezos showed off a brand new design of its "Blue Moon" lander, which is designed to carry 6.5 tons to the surface of the Moon. According to Bezos, the Blue Origin team has been working on the design for three years. "A very fundamental long-range problem is that we will run out of energy on Earth," [Bezos said]() at the event. "This is just arithmetic. It will happen." ## Prime Delivery The solution, according to Bezos: look elsewhere for energy sources in the solar system. The lunar lander will fit into the fairing of Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket and will feature a brand new BE-7 engine with 10,000 pounds of thrust. The new rocket will fire test for the first time as soon as this summer. Bezos also confirmed that a modified version of the Blue Moon lander could be powerful enough to carry a pressurized ascent vehicle for astronauts to the lunar surface. A new space on [Blue Origin's website]() describes the lander as being capable of "precise and soft landings" to enable "a sustained human presence on the Moon." ## Space Vision Bezos also talked about his futuristic visions of humanity [living in giant space colonies]() modeled after physicist Gerard O’Neill's designs for massive cylinders that could house human settlers by spinning to provide gravity. But launching into space is not only super expensive but very difficult. The news comes just a day after [Congress grilled NASA officials]() over how it failed to come up with plans to get to the Moon by 2024. Blue Origin is officially offering its new lander as an ascent vehicle for NASA's 2024 human landing missions. https://twitter.com/jeff_foust/status/1126585348874809344 ## Endurance Up until the announcement, the only clue as to what the event was about was a cryptic tweet with a picture of British explorer Ernest Shackleton's ship called the Endurance that he explored the Antarctic with. A site near the south pole of the Moon was named after Shackleton — a crater with rims that are exposed to almost continual sunlight. https://twitter.com/SciGuySpace/status/1126577742722605058 *Editors note: this story has been updated with additional details.* **READ MORE:** [Blue Moon]() \[*Blue Origin*\] **More on Blue Origin:** *[Jeff Bezos: In the Future, We’ll Live In “Giant Space Colonies”]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()