Description: Jeff Bezos and his company Blue Origin have been making a lot of
Blue Origin
‘We’re not meant to save the world. We are meant to leave’
The dialogue from the movie Interstellar may have seemed too audacious to be realistic. In 2019, and to people like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, such a move is far from audacious. In fact, it’s a very real possibility.
Stories of space exploration have been sung in novels and cinema. Their relevance has been narrowed to thrilling storytelling and nothing more.
With Blue Origin headed by Bezos and Space X helmed by Elon Musk, space exploration is no longer an abstract and intangible concept. Both companies have different goals and timelines, but the overarching objective to go beyond the confines of the planet is obvious.
When talked of in various circles, the first thing people point to about Jeff Bezos is the vast wealth he has amassed.
Wealth, in itself, is not admirable. It is the transformative changes Bezos has brought to people’s lives while making his billions. After first disrupting the way people bought and companies sold products, he is now looking to make strides in a field left unexplored, especially in the private sector.
What is Blue Origin?
Blue Origin envisions a future society in which space exploration and settlement will no longer a choice for the survival of our planet. There is enough data to suggest that Earth may have now become irreparably damaged to sustain a large human population. Settlement in frontiers beyond our own will soon become a real need.
The company’s mission, in no uncertain terms, is to create state-of-the-art space travel infrastructure. One of its key areas of focus is making launch vehicles that can be reused. Until now, government-funded space research organizations such as NASA use single-time launch vehicles that are not feasible for travel over a long period of time.
With such an ambitious vision and Bezos at the helm, one cannot help but think that the company will be a success. There is a word of caution necessary here. Space travel, by all accounts, is very unforgiving. Mistakes may be rectified and forgotten overtime down here on Earth, but one wrong decision up there is space would have dire consequences.
This is why a large part of Blue Origin’s efforts go into training the present and next generation of astronauts. Just as the medieval era needed the like of Columbus to discover lands of the future, the next generation would also need its own explorers. Blue Origin seeks to bring such people into the fold and make them ready for the challenges of the future.
Why Does Bezos want to go to the Moon?
Why wouldn’t anyone?
Jokes aside, there are certain reasons why the moon is the first challenge.
When Bezos was asked the question of space exploration, and why space travel is important. His answer was simple. The very survival of our species could come down to human settlements in space. Since the moon is the nearest planetary body to earth, it is first on the radar of Blue Moon.
In May 2019, Bezos launched the lunar lander developed by Blue Origin. At the event, he spoke of the need to have space vehicles capable of carrying different kinds of payloads. The final goal is to get humans to settle on the moon.
Despite the advanced technology Blue Origin is trying to create, there is still level-headedness in Bezos when it comes to the timeline of the company’s growth. He explains that the vision of Blue Origin won’t be met in a space of a year, a couple, or even this generation. In his own words, every step Blue Origin takes forward is for the next generation and the one after that.
The entire point of space exploration is to go beyond short term goals and think as a species. Companies like Blue Origin, and Space X for that matter, are not chasing profits and sales targets for the next quarter. Their game is a long-term and predicated upon saving humanity by colonizing planetary bodies away from Earth.
In the words of Bezos, ‘It is time to go back to the moon, this time to stay’.
What will Happen to Earth?
An interesting question to ask is what will happen to Earth. If space settlement is the answer, will humankind abandon earth for good?
Bezos has an answer for this too, although he recognizes the question is too far into the future to be debated now.
Bezos thinks all heavy production industries will have to be the first to go to the moon. They are the ones draining too many resources from earth leaving no room for people to live here.
Earth, in essence, will ideally become a planet for residential purposes and light industry.
The solution is not one lacking merit.
Heavy industries have taken a toll on the planet. Activities like fracking have led to many earthquakes. High temperatures are leading to massive forest fires in places like California, Australia, and Brazil.
There is enough reason to suggest that the negative consequences of climate change are beginning to show. Carbon emissions refuse to die down, glaciers keep melting, and global temperatures continue to rise.
There is something seriously wrong happening.
Shifting heavy industries to the moon, for instance, could solve certain problems. While it’s too early to say if the problems of climate change could be reversed, the strategy could buy time at the very least.
Unlike Elon Musk who sees Mars as the goal, Bezos believes going too far away from Earth could become a problem. This is why the Moon is the best option of the lot, as it is much closer to our current home than Mars.
In Conclusion
In conclusion, this article covers key details about Jeff Bezos’s plans for the future of Blue Origin and his vision for the future of our species.
About the Author- Gaurav Heera is a digital marketing trainer and founder of DelhiCourses.in. DelhiCourses is amongst the best-known institutes for studying a digital marketing course in Delhi.
