Amazon looks set to spur logistics space race

With its domination of the retail and logistics worlds well in motion, it seems that Amazon’s ambitions may be getting a little more out of this world.
A seven-page white paper prepared by space company Blue Origin – owned by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos – for the Nationals Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) outlines its interest in establishing a cargo storage facility on the moon by the mid-2020s.
The Washington Post– owned by Jeff Bezos, interestingly – first revealed details of the document, reporting that it was handed to NASA leadership, urging them to support an Amazon-style shipping service for the moon to deliver goods such as gear for experiments and cargo, eventually enabling human settlement.
Blue Origin’s paper asked NASA to develop a program to provide “incentives to the private sector to demonstrate a commercial lunar cargo delivery service.”
The company has confirmed that the white paper obtained by The Post, dated 4 January, is indeed authentic.
When questioned by The Post, Bezos said, “It is time for America to return to the Moon – this time to stay.
“A permanently inhabited lunar settlement is a difficult and worthy objective. I sense a lot of people are excited about this.”
At the recent Aviation Week awards ceremony, Bezos noted that the moon could be key in helping humans reach further into space. “I think that if you go to the moon first, and make the moon your home, then you can get to Mars more easily,” he said.
Blue Origin plans to land its lunar vehicle –Blue Moon ­– on the moon’s south pole, Shackleton Crater due to its constant sunlight to power the vessel, and a water source. Blue Moon will be capable of carrying up to 10,000lbs of material, key to the company’s plan to transition to cargo delivery and storage. “Blue Moon is all about cost-effective delivery of mass to the surface of the Moon,” said Bezos. “Any credible first lunar settlement will require that capability.”