Jeff Bezos shows off new Moon lander design for NASA

Enlarge / Jeff Bezos, Blue Origin's founder, meets NASA Administrator Bill Nelson with a mock-up of the Blue Moon Mark 1 lander behind them. (credit: NASA)

Blue Origin has unveiled a mock-up of the Blue Moon lander it says will be ready to fly to the Moon within the next three years as a precursor to human landings on a larger vehicle, perhaps at the end of the decade.

Jeff Bezos, the billionaire founder of Blue Origin, recently showed off the "low-fidelity" mock-up to NASA officials at the company's engine production facility in Huntsville, Alabama. The vehicle is undoubtedly large and will take advantage of the 23-foot-wide (7-meter) payload volume on Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket.

This is the Mark 1 variant of the Blue Moon lander. It's designed to deliver up to 3 metric tons (about 6,600 pounds) of cargo anywhere on the lunar surface. Blue Origin revealed the design on Friday.