Source: Interesting Engineering

The space race towards colonizing Mars is very much underway. Private companies have made it their personal mission to reach the big red planet in the near future.

Nevertheless, not only is the trip to Mars a long and strenuous one, colonizing Mars is not an easy feat. You hear all about colonizing Mars, but what about the Moon?

Some have argued that colonizing the moon should be our first big priority before heading to the big red planet. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has made moon colonization one of his top priorities at his aerospace company Blue Origin, something that should also be a top priority for humanity, according to him.

Saving the Earth

According to Bezos, there is a very simple reason why we need to colonize the moon, he believes that “Humanity’s very survival relies on colonizing space, starting with the moon”.

Just this past month, Bezos and his Blue Origin team unveiled a lunar-lander vehicle, called Blue Moon, designed to deliver a variety of payloads to the moon.

Eventually, the ultimate goal is to help humans establish, “sustained human presence” on Earth’s moon. In a  presentation at Amazon’s Re:Mars tech conference, Bezos stated:

“The reason we’ve got to go to space, in my view, is to save the Earth. If we’re going to continue to grow this civilization, we need to move – and I’m talking about something our grandchildren will work on and their grandchildren and so on. This isn’t something just this generation is going to accomplish.”

Bezos believes the moon is the perfect landing spot. The moon itself is only a three-day ride, has access to solar energy, has lighter gravity, and even has water in the form of ice.

Why the Moon?

According to Philip Metzger, a physicist at NASA Kennedy Space Center, the moon could also offer even more in the great history of human space travel, eventually becoming a base and stomping ground for longer trips.

“The Moon is a natural first step. It’s nearby. We can practice living, working and doing science there before taking longer and riskier trips to Mars.”

What do you think about the future of colonization? And do you think the moon should be humanity’s first stop?