億萬富翁杰夫·貝佐斯透漏了他的月球移民計劃。在洛杉磯召開的太空發展大會（Space Development Conference）上，貝佐斯稱他的太空初創公司藍色起源（Blue Origin）將在所謂的月球殖民計劃中發揮關鍵作用。

貝佐斯對Geekwire表示：“未來，我們必須離開地球。我們會離開這個星球，這會讓它變得更好。我們可以自由往返。想留在地球的人可以留下來。”

他認為地球應該作為居住區和發展輕工業，大部分重工業將搬到其他星球或者月球上去。他預計在100年內，這一愿景將得以實現。正如網絡媒體Gizmodo描寫的那樣：“人類最終將把功能無限的廣闊太空，用作一個龐大的、太陽能驅動的制造工廠，進而大幅減少垃圾。”

不過貝佐斯承認，月球開發和最終的定居“無法靠一家公司完成。”他希望與美國國家航空航天局（NASA）或者歐洲航天局合作，但他表示最終需要“數千家公司合作數十年時間”。

近幾年，私人太空競賽愈演愈烈，貝佐斯以及同樣熱衷于火箭的億萬富翁埃隆·穆斯克和理查德·布蘭森都加入了競賽。

上周末，布蘭森表示，他和貝佐斯在“誰將率先將人類送入太空的競賽中并駕齊驅。”但他補充道，他們必須“保證安全”，并稱這是一場“與自己的競賽”，努力保證他們打造的太空船能夠足夠安全地將人類送入太空。

但別指望私人太空旅行將很快成為主流。實事求是地說：只有不到600人曾經越過卡門線，而且他們幾乎全部來自公共部門。所謂卡門線是指地球表面上方62英里，被作為地球大氣層與外太空的分界線。（財富中文網）

譯者：劉進龍/汪皓

Billionaire Jeff Bezos shed some more light on his plans to take us to the moon. At the Space Development Conference in Los Angeles, Bezos said that his Blue Origin space venture will play a critical role in this so-called lunar settlement.

“We will have to leave this planet,” Bezos told Geekwire. “We’re going to leave it, and it’s going to make this planet better. We’ll come and go, and the people who want to stay will stay.”

He thinks the Earth should be zoned for residential and light industrial use, while much of the heavy industry will move to other planets or the moon. He predicts this will happen in the next 100 years. As Gizmodo described it, “humans will ultimately use the functionally unlimited expanse of space as a giant solar powered manufacturing sector slash garbage dump.”

Bezos did say that the exploration and eventual settlement of the moon “won’t be done by one company.” He noted a desire to collaborate with NASA or the European space agency, but said it will ultimately require “thousands of companies working in concert over many decades.”

The private space race has been heating up in recent years with Bezos and fellow rocket billionaires Elon Musk and Richard Branson.

Over the last weekend, Branson said that he and Bezos are “neck and neck as to who will put people into space first.” But, he added, they “have to do it safely,” calling it a “race with ourselves” to ensure that they each build a shuttle that is safe enough to send people to space.

Don’t hold your breath for private space travel to go mainstream anytime soon. To put things in perspective: Fewer than 600 people, nearly all from the public sector, have ever gone above the Kármán line—the point about 62 miles above Earth that marks the beginning of space.