I have recently written quite a bit on Elon Musk and his ambition when it comes to getting out into space... StarLink, StarShip and beyond and at the same time I did raise some concerns about the financial viability of SpaceX as a whole. You might recall that he is almost entirely dependent on funding it through StarLink - and I am not sure there are enough (potential) customers to serve his vision. Added to that I am sceptical that it might all turn out to be a massively orchestrated ponzi; remember how he personally enriches himself while his companies often struggle? That aside, he has the persona of the ultimate James Bond villain.

Meanwhile, and I did mention him briefly in the aforementioned articles, Jeff Bezos (Amazon Owner) has just been quietly getting on with it. His goal with his space programme — Blue Origin — is far bigger and more philosophical than simply building rockets. His vision is a multi‑generational project aimed at reshaping humanity’s long‑term future, and this is essential for our long-term survival as a species - although we have a billion years to sort ourselves out, assuming that we don't destroy ourselves and our environment in the meantime. Essentially Bezos wants to build an integrated infrastructure that allows millions of people to live and work in space, ultimately moving heavy industry off Earth to preserve the planet.

He firmly believes that the best way to preserve the Earth is by expanding into space. His reasoning comes from the obvious fact that our fair Earth's resources are ultimately finite and that long‑term human prosperity requires shifting energy‑intensive and polluting industries off‑planet. The best way to achieve this he argues is to build the necessary permanent infrastructure that will create a road into space. this infrastructure will involve reusable rockets, lunar landers, in‑space manufacturing systems, and eventually orbital habitats, which will then be available for future generations to use for the purpose of building new industries and settlements.

His current philosophy primarily revolves around four key elements, which are at the very least in development.

• New Shepard – suborbital tourism and research
• New Glenn – heavy‑lift orbital rocket
• Blue Moon – lunar landers for NASA’s Artemis programme
• Orbital Reef – a commercial space station concept

In targeting space infrastructure, as his primary goal, Bezo's is presenting a very different model to SpaceX, which is focused on Mars colonisation.

Essential to the realisation of this vision, is the enabling of millions of people to live and work in space. He aspires for this to happen within the next few decades because he sees space as a place people will go simply because they want to.” While they will be predominantly workers and their families he thinks robots will do most of the dangerous work. Within this idea I see a massive contradiction, a massive robot labour force, will reduce the needs for a mass human labour force - so what does this mean - will a significant number of humans be tourists? Tourists come and visit, but almost always go home, with the rare exception of those individuals who love the destination so much that they decide to stay. 

Anyway, I digress.

In common with SpaceX, Bezo's sees the utility of space exploration has to be based on reusability to lower costs, You might recall that SpaceX eventually want to get payload delivery down to as little as $20 per kilogram (and you might recall I mentioned that Ryanair charge about $15 per kilogram in excess luggage).

Ultimately, and both Blue Origin and SpaceX see reusability as the main way for their space programmes to achieve economic viability. Just like SpaceX, Blue Origin’s rockets are designed for vertical landing and repeated use, with boosters intended to fly up to 25 times.

The main challenge has always been getting into space. I once heard that technologically it is not such a massive step up, certainly in terms of creating a survivable environment, than that used by commercial aviation. The main issues are cost and power, as well as the necessary robustness of any craft to survive Earth return. 

Once in space the whole universe (aside from travel times!) is literally open for mankind and we will have complete dominion over it. If there are any aliens out there, they are simply too far away or lack technological acumen required (and please remember we are still very much at the baby steps stage ourselves) to do anything about it.

So, the key to the future is to find and utilise those resources that are present in space. I recall a futurist book I read as a child demonstrating how in the long(est) term we could harness the gasses of Jupiter, but in the meantime, something that should be more achievable is the use of lunar dust to make solar arrays and cables, extraction of water ice at the Moon’s south pole (and ultimately Mars too when we get there) and the production of hydrogen fuel from lunar resources.

All of these are both foundational and essential for long‑term settlement and industry. Bezo's is a realist and readily recognises that this will not happen overnight and thus he sees the project as multi‑generational. Blue Origin’s nonprofit Club for the Future aims to inspire young people to pursue STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics) careers in order to carry the vision forward.  

In the here and now, recent reporting has shown that Bezos is now accelerating Blue Origin’s pace. Blue Origin's estimated value currently stands at $130 billion with outside fundraising comprising about $10 billion; Bezos himself has personally contributed $2 billion to the programme.

The current and essential short-term target is to return New Glenn to flight by end of 2026 after its disastrous landing pad explosion on 28th May 2026, during a hot fire test. Having said that, while the rocket may be ready, the landing pad, having suffered extensive damage, may take until 2028 to be up and running again.

That aside, there is a clear step up in momentum as Blue origin shifts from a slower more methodical development to more aggressive execution.  

So, while the programme is not as target focused as SpaceX's (Mars) the bottom line is that Jeff Bezo's is envisioning a much wider, multi-generational approach focused on utilisable infrastructure and the harnessing of resources that are present in space, on the Moon or even other planets. He sees this as a natural extension of what we are doing, but also the off-worlding of many polluting industries and processes which in turn will give our planet a chance to heal - hence the name Blue Origin.

As always stay safe and well my friends.