Amazon's Jeff Bezos unveils moon lander plans

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos on Thursday unveiled a moon lander mockup created by his aerospace company Blue Origin.

"This is an incredible vehicle and it's going to the moon," said Bezos at a rare media event. "It's time to go back to the moon, this time to stay."

The lander is a robotic ship roughly the size of a small house, which can carry up to four rovers. The company said a following version of the spacecraft could transport people to the moon in the near future.

"Blue Moon can deliver payloads to the lunar surface, host payloads and even deploy payloads during its journey to the moon," said Bezos' Blue Origin company on its website. The lander is expected to launch on reusable rockets.

Read more: Opinion: The US' 'five-year' moon plan is dangerous

'No infrastructure'

Bezos noted that the lander is only the beginning of a larger project to create greater infrastructure in space. 

"The price of admission to do interesting things in space right now is just too high because there's no infrastructure," Bezos said.

Interest in returning to the moon has risen as aerospace entrepreneurs and governments seek the prospect of strategic positions in space.

But reaching the moon isn't easy. Last month, an Israeli startup launched a spacecraft hoping to land it on the moon. However, the spacecraft crashed after the main engine failed during landing maneuvers.

Other companies, such as Elon Musk's SpaceX, have also developed reusable rockets, which are crucial to lowering the costs of space-bound voyages.

Read more: A new race to the moon? US wants to lead the way

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ls/sms (AP, AFP)