Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin Will Make a Large Lunar Lander Called Blue Moon

Blue Moon is a flexible lander delivering a wide variety of small, medium and large payloads to the lunar surface. Its capability to provide precise and soft landings will enable a sustained human presence on the Moon.

SOURCES- Blue Origin
Written By Brian Wang, Nextbigfuture.com

32 thoughts on “Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin Will Make a Large Lunar Lander Called Blue Moon”

  1. Though to be fair, Blue Origin likes to build their stuff indoors, unlike Mr Musk and his tent+concrete pad friends…

  2. The tortoise and the hare is a poor analogy. Bezos is more like a very conservative poker player who will lose to the more aggressive player. Almost 19 years now and very little achieved, zero firsts, only a few suborbital test flights, while SpaceX actually has revenue, a lot of it. Musk made a big bet on a reusable booster and won, still winning. I think Bezos has made a far less substantial bet on suborbital tourism and we don’t even know if there is a considerable market for it, I have my doubts, especially if SpaceX is able to provide the full orbital experience at a comparable price.

  3. Occupy the lunal polar highlands and stake claims in icy craters before China does. A new tourist economy can be used to locate easily recoverable resources. Let the tourist take home any valuable moon rocks they find, but set up operations in those locations. The we watch some real robot wars when the claim jumpers arrive.

  4. You better go watch his presentation video, because he clearly talks about his upcoming big rocket, New Glenn which will land on a moving ship. That thing is big like Falcon Heavy.

  5. Easier to survive just a few days away from Earth than a few months (years?) away from it. EDL is easier for Moon compared to Mars, and lower escape velocity. Whatever longterm advantages Mars might have over the Moon, it’s better to focus on the near term economics, which is where the Moon comes out ahead.

  6. Remember the Tortoise and the Hare? Musk may be faster out of the starting gate, but Bezos’ efforts may be more steady and sustainable. Look who’s built up more wealth. Musk is trying to re-invent internet connectivity on the fly, as an afterthought, in order to sustain his Mars efforts. By contrast, Bezos seems to have solidified his financial position first, and can now more sustainably pursue his less distant goals.

  7. Well, I’ll give you that suborbital doesn’t count, but he has already sold multiple new glenn flights to geosat operators, before he has even finished building the first. That usually counts as being a big thumbs up from the paying customers.

  8. Nope. It makes perfect business sense to show a mock up that doesn’t show the exact design you are producing. One is satisfying and warming up potential customers to your product, the other is preventing the competition from seeing the actual vehicle. No one doubts BEZOS has already demonstrated his ability to build rockets, because he has already sold flights to Geosat operators. His lunar lander is already gaining traction with customers in Europe.

  9. I don’t know. Maybe the giant, 7m wide rocket his company is going to be building this year that was also mentioned in the presentation?

    Just a guess.

  10. If you don’t care about aerodynamics, and has to land somewhere (preferably with a low center of gravity), then yes, this is how things tend to look. What a shock.

    Where is it written that he must compete directly with Starship (as if either was flying yet)?

  11. Volkswagen print ad from the Apollo era. Picture of a Lunar Module with caption:

    “It’s ugly, but it gets you there.”

  12. This is exactly what’s needed from blue. The larger version with extended tanks serves the mission requirements of Zubrin’s moon direct. This can operate between earth orbit and the lunar surface and use lunar resources for propellant. It can hop all over the moon from a base at the South Pole for a serious exploration program. SpaceX isn’t doing this and it’s needed.

    Of course it’s yet another reason NASA plans for SLS/Orion/LOP-G are archaic and unnecessary.

  13. The best way to climb a ladder is one step at a time. The moon may have resources that could be profitably mined. That would provide the economic stimulus needed to open space. I think the first thing we need to do is scanned the moon surface for minerals deposits.

  14. Space-X is actually launching payload into space. I like competition since it will lower prices but lets keep it real.

  15. Blue Origin’s rocket factory in Florida is 50% larger than SpaceX’s in Hawthorne CA. Lampoon them at your own risk.

  16. Blue Origin is building a big rocket called New Glenn. It should be flying in about 2 years, thus 3 years before the lunar lander.

  17. Sure, but the large ship is usually built, before a pinnace is bought for it. I think it’s obvious this announcement is more to get media attention than anything else. It is simply putting the cart before the horse.

  18. When we buy a small boat (a tender or a pinnace) for a large ocean-going ship to use for getting from the ship to the shore (or another ship) and back, we don’t insist on one that can do everything the ship itself can do . . . or even one that can circumnavigate the Earth on a routine basis.

  19. The Moon is very near, with a lot of resources, going to Mars is really, really hard. Starting from the Moon is a very logical strategy, and also the long term idea to put the heavy industry on orbital facility, off the Earth. Establish a solid and continuative link with the Moon is a good thing..

  20. Maybe he’ll buy a couple of falcon heavy launches! One for the vehicle, one for cargo, and fuel. I’d be willing to bet he could get a nice discount on two launches, about a month apart.

  21. You’ve got to get there first. What’s next, a lander for the planets of Proxima Centauri?

  22. Are you criticizing him for not inventing anti-gravity?

    The only form of anti-gravity that we’ve ever discovered is the same one we used in the 1960’s. It’s called kinetic energy. So for lunar landings (and takeoffs) the only thing we have that will work is a box on a rocket.

    Unless you are criticizing him for not inventing reactionless engines? Really strong reactionless engines at that.

    Pretty panels to make it look cool would just add weight and make it harder to service.

    Eventually (first things first) we can build a magnetic launcher up there, but that would only help with takeoffs (and probably wouldn’t be a great way to send people back up from the surface, even though it would put it’s cargo through substantially less than the 2250 gravities they would experience launching in one from Earth, as described at https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2008/02/magnetic-catapult-feasible-advanced.html).

  23. Looks like a shitty knock off of Apollo. Where’s the competition to Starship? Bezos is so busy playing catch up he’s forgetting to innovate.

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