Jeff Bezos: “Very Optimistic” about the new government’s space agenda

On January 12, Jeff Bezos, the boss of Amazon, expressed high optimism towards the upcoming space agenda of the new U.S. government. He believes that Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, will not use his close relationship with President-elect Trump to weaken Bezos’ aerospace company, Blue Origin.

Musk spent over $250 million to help Trump get elected and has maintained close contact with him on space affairs. Bezos told Reuters, “Elon has made it very clear that he is doing this for the public good, not for personal gain. I believe what he says.”

Blue Origin, founded by Bezos, was set to launch its New Glenn rocket on Monday (13th) to deliver a lunar lander for NASA. However, due to last-minute issues with the transport vehicle, the launch was postponed.

New Glenn is a 30-story-high rocket that is expected to challenge SpaceX’s market dominance and propel Blue Origin into the satellite launch business.

SpaceX, led by Musk, is developing the Starship, a fully reusable rocket intended to transport humans and cargo to the Moon and Mars.

Blue Origin has signed a $3 billion contract with NASA to send humans to the Moon under NASA’s multi-billion-dollar Artemis program.

Trump has been attracted to milestone developments in SpaceX’s Starship program and has been talking about missions to Mars at recent political gatherings, hinting at changes to NASA’s flagship space exploration agenda.

Last month, Musk stated that the U.S. should send spacecraft directly to Mars instead of going to the Moon first, raising concerns in the industry about significant shifts in NASA’s space exploration plans.

In response, Bezos said, “My personal opinion is that we should do both — we need to go to the Moon and also to Mars. What we shouldn’t do is start and stop. We should continue with the Moon program.”

Amazon has donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund and will live stream the event on its Prime Video service. Bezos has met with Trump but stated, “We didn’t really discuss space.”

Changes in the political priorities of the new U.S. president have previously led to the abandonment of ambitious national space programs. Former President George H.W. Bush’s human lunar program, the Space Exploration Initiative, was terminated by his successor President Clinton, who favored robotic explorers.

The Artemis Moon program was significantly driven by Trump’s first term government, with the goal of sending humans to the Moon within a decade (2020-2029). This program has received support from President Biden.

However, Trump is expected to make significant changes to NASA’s Moon program in his second term and shift the focus towards missions to Mars.

Regarding this, Bezos stated, “The timelines for all these projects go well beyond any one president’s term in office. So, in order to see progress, there needs to be continuity in these projects.”

(This article is based on reports from Reuters)