Amazon Founder, Jeff Bezos, Wants to Build Factories in Space in an Attempt to Save Earth

Mankind is staring to explore the possibilties space can offer to Earth. Projects such as "asteroid mining" and "moon village" are being considered to expand the habitable space and to harvest more resources from near-Earth objects. Recently, Amazon founder and billionaire, Jeff Bezos, suggested the factories should be built and operated in space to save Earth from further damage.

The founder of Amazon also created his own aerospace manufacturer and spaceflight services called Blue Origins. His rationale for the company is that the commercial space industry is worth developing for the benefit of Earth and mankind.

 "So when it comes to space, I see it as my job - I'm building infrastructure the hard way. I'm using my resources to put in heavy-lifting infrastructure," said Bezos in an interview with Forbes. "So the next generation of people can have a dynamic, entrepreneurial explosion into space," Bezos added.

But before it can be accomplished, he said that the price of space travel should be decreased, thus Blue Origin's work in reusable space shuttle technology. And unlike Elon Musk, Bezos believe that Mars shouldn't be the priority. He wanted to focus on bringing factories off the Earth and to create solar panels in space.

According to Bezos, the Earth is the best planet to live in. "Energy is limited here. In at least a few hundred years ... all of our heavy industry will be moved off-planet,' Bezos said in a statement.

Recently, Blue Origin landed a contract with NASA to become one of its partners in transporting new technologies off the Earth, according to a report by The Verge. The partnership is in line with NASA's Flight Opportunities Program which gives an opportunity to new emerging space technologies and companies. 

The BE-3 is designed to restart as our New Shepard vehicle returns, slowing the booster to just 5 mph for landing. pic.twitter.com/5AkPLFHTNj

— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) August 17, 2015

With Bezos entering the commercial space industry and his attempt to further develop reusable space shuttle, it looks like Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX, has found himself a competition. But in all industries, competition is good, for as long as their space programs, as Bezos put it, are geared towards "saving the Earth."