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Jeff Bezos Is Planning to Ship 'Several Metric Tons of Cargo' to the Moon
Blue Origin, described by Bezos as "the most important work I'm doing," signed a letter of intent with German aerospace companies OHB Space Systems and Security and MT Aerospace at the 69th annual International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Germany on Tuesday. The OHB SE dubbed the lunar project the "Blue Moon" mission in a press release.
It's not clear exactly what cargo the Blue Moon mission would transport, but it likely includes infrastructure designed to start private business on the Moon: The IAC also detailed the launch of the "Moon Race," a competition between Blue Origin, Airbus Air and Space, and other space agencies around the world to develop technology that will bring companies around the world to the Moon.
According to a press release, the competition could involve manufacturing products and technology, manufacturing energy sources for humans to survive, getting access to water and sustaining biological life, such as plant or agricultural life—all on the Moon.
Also at Space.com.
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(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday October 05 2018, @03:13PM
Heinlein foresaw that, as did several other authors. There is no end to the wealthy individuals, and/or corporate interests in SF. The CoDominion among others lacked the personnel to do much more than guard it's outposts. Many of the planets were settled by civilian interests, with more colonists being forcefully exported from earth all the time. Once the Dominion Navy kicked the "settler's" asses off the ships, they were on their own.
Among others, David Drake has planets run by religious entities. That's pretty lucrative for a mercenary. When two sects start warring about the proper color to wear at Easter time, real gun hands come into high demand.