For the past three years, Jeff Bezos' space company, Blue Origin, has been quietly developing a high-performance, liquid-oxygen- and liquid-hydrogen-fueled engine to power a human-class lunar lander, with the first test-firing expected this summer. The BE-7 engine, which has 10,000 lb. of thrust and 453 sec. of specific impulse, was among new details of the company's Blue Moon lunar lander presented by Bezos May 9 during a private event at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. Initially, the lander will be capable of delivering 7,716 lb. (3,500 kg) to the lunar surface, or roughly four Mars Curiosity-class rovers. With a stretch tank to carry more fuel, the Blue Moon's cargo load nearly doubles to 14,330 lb., large enough to carry an ascent vehicle for NASA astronauts to lift off from the lunar surface for a return trip to Earth. When Bezos unveiled Blue Moon in 2017, the project was ahead of its time. NASA was not planning to land astronauts on the Moon until 2028 and had higher-priority human space exploration projects such as finishing the Space Launch System rocket and starting work on a lunar-orbiting Gateway, a small, multipurpose outpost to assemble and command crewed and robotic sorties to the lunar surface, among other tasks.
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