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from the deep-thoughts-with-Jeff-Bezos dept.
Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
It's become increasingly clear that Jeffrey P. Bezos, who in the last several months has been talking much more openly about his once secretive space company, has some really big ambitions in space.
As Blue Origin moves toward its goal of having "millions of people living and working in space," the company has launched and landed the same rocket four times in a row, an unprecedented feat aimed at ultimately lowering the cost of space travel. By 2018, it plans to soon fly tourists on short jaunts past the edge of space in capsules designed with large windows. And earlier this week, Bezos announced plans to fly a new massive rocket, capable of getting to orbit, by the end of the decade.
For his achievements, Bezos, the founder of amazon.com and the owner of The Washington Post, was awarded the prestigious Heinlein Prize Wednesday evening at an event at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. The honor came with a $250,000 award that the multi-billionaire pledged to donate to Students for the Exploration and Development of Space, a nonprofit.
During a half-hour-long question-and-answer period, he offered some additional insights into his vision for how humans will eventually spread out into the solar system, what he hopes his legacy will be and how he competes against other billionaire space enthusiasts such as Elon Musk and Richard Branson. He also talked briefly about what it's like to go back to his high school reunions, and the day The Post opens a bureau on Mars. He didn't mention whether an assignment there would be a promotion or a banishment.
An edited transcript of his remarks is available in the article.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 18 2016, @01:57PM
As soon as some splinter colony in the far reaches of the solar system discovers uranium or a naturally occurring source of plutonium and decides to go all North Korea (or more likely America) on Terra's collective assholes by lobbing a few hundred nukes to perform 'asshole control' and ensure there is plenty in the solar system for everyone.
The sad part about this is the corporate assholes who caused it all will already be on their fancy offworld colonies or stations and thus unaffected by the strikes against Earth.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by JNCF on Sunday September 18 2016, @07:44PM
As soon as some splinter colony in the far reaches of the solar system discovers uranium or a naturally occurring source of plutonium and decides to go all North Korea (or more likely America) on Terra's collective assholes by lobbing a few hundred nukes to perform 'asshole control' and ensure there is plenty in the solar system for everyone.
They don't even need nukes, a point Heinlein made in The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress. Just lobbing big rocks into our gravity well is a way to quickly fuck all of Earth's assholes into a gooey pile of blood, shit, and bile. Rocks are abundant, and cheap to move around when you don't have to worry so much about gravity. The splinter colonies would need to be self sufficient first, and feel that a potentially suicidal war with Earth would be preferable to longterm trade agreements. Being at the bottom of a gravity well is pretty useful for maintaining the quality of these meat-sacks we shamble around in, but it comes with a number of very serious longterm disadvantages.