---
title: "Elon Musk Ridicules Jeff Bezos’ Plan For Space Colonies"
description: "## Space Feud"
date: "2019-05-24"
modified: "2019-05-24"
authors:
  - name: "Jon Christian"
    job_title: "Executive Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-jeff-bezos-space-colonies"
categories:
  - "Elon Musk"
  - "Future Society"
  - "Jeff Bezos"
  - "Off-World"
  - "Space"
  - "The Industrialists"
tags:
  - "elon musk"
  - "jeff bezos"
  - "space colony"
  - "the digest"
---

# Elon Musk Ridicules Jeff Bezos’ Plan For Space Colonies

![SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said on Twitter that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' idea for giant off-world space colonies "makes no sense."](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/elon-musk-ridicules-jeff-bezos-plan-for-space-colonies.png>)
*\<em\>Image: JD Lasica/Rick Guidice/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Space Feud

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has become [increasingly vocal](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/jeff-bezos-future-giant-space-colonies>) about the idea that humans will eventually live in "giant space colonies" — an idea that's been [widely mocked](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/jeff-bezos-ridiculous-space-habitats>) by critics who've pointed out that humans are doing a [pretty bad job](<https://futurism.com/climate-change-caused-humans>) taking care of their first space habitat, the Earth.

Now, another outsize personality in the space research scene is roasting Bezos: SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1131442696537743362

## Mass Effect

On Thursday, Musk took to Twitter to opine that Bezos' idea "makes no sense." The gist of his critique is that space colonies — Bezos [favors a design](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/jeff-bezos-future-giant-space-colonies>) called an "O'Neill cylinder," which rotates in order to produce artificial gravity — would require extraordinary quantities of materials.

In theory, the fixings for a giant space habitat could be dragged up the gravity well of a planet, like the Earth, but with today's launch technology, that would be incredibly inefficient.

More likely is an idea Musk alluded to in his tweet: sourcing materials for a space colony from asteroids that have far less gravitational pull than planets — or even building a space station [inside an asteroid](<https://futurism.com/space-station-inside-asteroid>).

**READ MORE:** [Elon Musk mocks Jeff Bezos' space colony vision in snarky tweet](<https://www.foxbusiness.com/business-leaders/elon-musk-jeff-bezos-space-colony-tweet>) \[*Fox Business*\]

**More on space habitats:** *[The Benefits of Colonizing Space: Space Habitats and The O’Neill Cylinder](<https://futurism.com/space-habitats-and-the-oneill-cylinder>)*

## Author
I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/jonchristian.net>)