Jeff Bezos Wants to Build Vehicle That Can Land on the Moon, Offers R29bn to Help US Fund the Project
- Jeff Bezos in the bid to get back into a space contract he lost to Elon Musk company has offered to provide $2bn (R29 billion) if considered
- Ever since the contract to build a human landing system on the moon was given to Space X, NASA has been struggling with funding
- The contract is targetting making a human-landing vehicle that can take astronauts to the lunar surface as early as 2024
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The world’s richest man, Jeff Bezos, is competing for a very important contract to build a vehicle that can land on the moon.
In the bid to win the contract, BBC reports that he has offered to cover the sum of $2bn (R29 billion) costs of the project for NASA.
Source: Getty Images
Bezos earlier lost
It should be noted that earlier in the year in April, the agency gave the work to Elon Musk while it rejected the bid made by Bezos’ company, Blue Origin.
The contract is meant to build a landing system that will take astronauts to the lunar surface of the moon as soon as 2024.
Due to the funding problem NASA has been experiencing, it can only give the contract to just one company. Out of the $3.3bn needed, Congress only sent $850m.
Writing to the head of the agency, Bill Nelson, Bezos said:
"Blue Origin will bridge the HLS [Human Landing System] budgetary funding shortfall by waiving all payments in the current and next two government fiscal years up to $2bn to get the programme back on track right now.
"This offer is not a deferral, but is an outright and permanent waiver of those payments."
SpaceX's track record
Elon Musk’s SpaceX record of performing orbital missions is a big factor that got them the contract in the first place.
In his letter, the richest man in the world also tried to market Blue Origin’s use of hydrogen fuel, a thing NASA had always loved.
Another thing worthy of note is that when Blue Origin earlier lost the contract, it made a protest move to challenge the way the bidding was handled.
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Jeff fulfilled his childhood dream
Meanwhile, Briefly News earlier reported that Jeff Bezos landed in space after travelling with the Blue Origin spacecraft.
Posting the video on his wall, the man said that this is how it started. Sharing a fuller clip of his journey, it was gathered that the man returned from space after experiencing the place for minutes.
Reports said that going to space has always been his childhood dream, something he achieved 52 years later.
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Source: Briefly News
Maryn Blignaut (Human-Interest HOD) Maryn Blignaut is the Human Interest manager and feature writer. She holds a BA degree in Communication Science, which she obtained from the University of South Africa in 2016. She joined the Briefly - South African News team shortly after graduating and has over six years of experience in the journalism field. Maryn passed the AFP Digital Investigation Techniques course (Google News Initiative), as well as a set of trainings for journalists by Google News Initiative. You can reach her at: maryn.blignaut@briefly.co.za
Kelly Lippke (Senior Editor) Kelly Lippke is a copy editor/proofreader who started her career at the Northern-Natal Courier with a BA in Communication Science/Psychology (Unisa, 2007). Kelly has worked for several Caxton publications, including the Highway Mail and Northglen News. Kelly’s unique editing perspective stems from an additional major in Linguistics. Kelly joined Briefly News in 2018 and she has 14 years of experience. Kelly has also passed a set of trainings by Google News Initiative. You can reach her at kelly.lippke@briefly.co.za.
