The Most Important Reason Humans Need To Go To Space According To Jeff Bezos

Amazon isn't the only big company founded by Jeff Bezos. in 2000, he also started Blue Origin, an aerospace manufacturer that has gone on to become one of the biggest private space companies in the world. With Blue Origin, Bezos is mixing business with pleasure, as the cosmos has always been a passion of his. As a guest on a recent episode of the Lex Fridman Podcast, Bezos sat down for an in-depth conversation where he spoke about — among other things — Amazon, Elon Musk, and of course, space travel.

Bezos and Fridman covered a wide range of topics related to Blue Origin and space travel, but perhaps the most interesting was the root of why the company even exists at all — the most important reason humans need to learn how to work and live offplanet. It turns out, according to Bezos, that reason is energy usage. Responding to a question concerning whether or not so many resources should be devoted to space travel rather than focusing on protecting the only planet we currently have and curbing the effects of climate change, Bezos answered that space travel will actually help preserve the environment.

"The most fundamental measure is energy usage per capita," said Bezos, adding, "You do want to continue to use more and more energy, it is going to make your life better in so many ways, but that's not compatible, ultimately, with living on a finite planet, and so we have to go out in the solar system."

Citing that the natural beauty of the planet was "pristine" until the Industrial Age, Bezos argues that, by outsourcing the energy needs of a growing modern mega-civilization to asteroids, the Moon, and other nearby objects in the solar system, we can help keep Earth in the state we originally found it. "We have traded some of that pristine beauty for all these other gifts that we have as an advanced society," Bezos told Fridman. "And we can have both, but to do that we have to go to space."

While Bezos seemed resolute in his belief that harnessing rare metals, fuels, and other materials from intrasolar and interstellar bodies was a necessary task, he did concede that the timeline for doing so is malleable. However, he reiterated that mining energy resources offplanet was the only way to preserve the natural beauty of Earth as energy demands continue to grow and help improve the overall quality of life for everyone living on the planet. Referring to how humans need to go to space if they want to meet energy demands while also protecting the planet, Bezos stated: "Really you can argue about when you have to do that, but you can't credibly argue about whether you have to do that."

Bezos also went into some detail about "a very interesting spacecraft" Blue Origin is constructing — the Blue Ring. Unlike the lunar lander and other manned spacecraft Blue Origin has built (which are equipped with escape pods for the safety of the humans aboard), the Blue Ring is designed only to carry inanimate payloads to and from orbit. The Blue Ring can take up to 3,000 kgs of payload to geosynchronous orbit or even near the Moon. It uses two types of propulsion: chemical and electric. The former can move the craft quickly, while the electrical system does so more gradually. Flight plans can be customizable depending on the mission. The Blue Ring can quickly reach its orbit before making smaller adjustments, or gradually get there with the chemical fuel preserved for sudden changes to its flight path.

Spacecraft like the Blue Ring and others being designed and built by Blue Origin all have Bezos' ultimate goal of harnessing energy in mind. Eventually, the payloads carried by the Blue Ring or its successors can be the types of raw materials humans will need on Earth, like lithium, cobalt, and many other resources. They can also be used to help construct and support near-Earth spacecraft and habitats that may serve as a launch point for space travel deeper into the solar system and beyond, where even more energy can be mined. Bezos's ambition seems out of this world, but considering the scope of his previous accomplishments, there's little reason to think Blue Origin can't do for space travel what Amazon has done for retail shopping.