Jeff Bezos is assured that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wouldn’t leverage his shut relationship with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to undermine Bezos’ rival area firm Blue Origin, and is “very optimistic” concerning the incoming administration’s area agenda.
The inaugural launch of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket, tasked with ultimately launching the corporate’s moon lander for NASA, was due early on Monday after a number of delays, however was postponed for not less than one other day as a result of a last-minute subject with the automobile.
New Glenn is a 30-story-tall rocket that’s anticipated to chip away at SpaceX’s market dominance and kick-start Blue Origin’s long-delayed entrance into the satellite tv for pc launch business.
“Elon has been very clear that he’s doing this for the public interest and not for his personal gain. And I take him at face value,” Bezos, founding father of Blue Origin, informed Reuters on Sunday.
Musk, who has spent greater than 1 / 4 billion {dollars} to assist elect Trump, has had the latter’s ear on area issues.
Last month, Musk mentioned the U.S. ought to ship missions straight to Mars as an alternative of to the moon first, fueling trade issues of a serious shakeup to NASA’s area exploration program.
“My own opinion is that we should do both – we need to go to the moon and we should go to Mars,” Bezos mentioned, when requested if he was involved about modifications to NASA’s moon program.
“What we shouldn’t do is start and stop things. We should continue with the lunar program for sure,” Bezos mentioned.
Possible sweeping modifications
Trump, in his second time period as president, is anticipated to make sweeping modifications to NASA’s moon program and focus closely on sending missions to Mars.
Amazon has donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund and can stream the occasion on its Prime Video service. Bezos, Amazon’s founder and govt chair, has met with Trump however informed Reuters “we really haven’t talked about space.”
Shifts in political priorities from new U.S. presidents have killed bold nationwide area applications up to now. Former President George H.W. Bush’s Space Exploration Initiative, a crewed moon program, was ended by his successor President Bill Clinton’s coverage that favored robotic probes.
NASA’s multibillion-dollar moon program, Artemis, was largely spawned by Trump’s first administration, and its aim of placing people on the moon later this decade – for the primary time for the reason that Apollo program – was embraced by President Joe Biden.
Blue Origin, based by Bezos in 2000, has a $3 billion contract with NASA to land people on the moon below Artemis, following missions by SpaceX’s Starship, Musk’s absolutely reusable rocket in improvement that’s designed to place people and cargo on each the moon and Mars.
Trump, wooed by improvement milestones with SpaceX’s Starship, has fixated on sending missions to Mars in current months at political rallies, suggesting he would change course on NASA’s flagship area exploration agenda.
“All of these programs take longer than any one presidential administration,” Bezos mentioned. “So you do need continuity in these programs if you’re going to see progress be made.”
Source: www.dailysabah.com