Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin Joins US Military ‘Rocket Cargo’ Program

Jeff Bezos’ space company, Blue Origin, signed a cooperative agreement with the U.S. military to explore the possibility of someday using rockets to transport cargo and people anywhere in the world in one hour. 

Blue Origin rocket company and the United States Transportation Command (US TRANSCOM), which supervises global military logistics, signed a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) on Dec. 17. 

Under the CRADA, Blue Origin will share information about its rockets and capabilities. However, nothing is binding, and the government doesn’t have to commit to purchasing anything. 

The military will use modeling and simulations to analyze just how effective it’s to deliver massive amounts of advanced weaponry and military cargo to anywhere in the world within short notice. Payloads can also include people. 

“Not every option will call for logistics through space, but when we need to respond faster, or assure access in challenging environments, we recognize that space now offers a toolkit, not just a concept,” Vice Admiral Dee Mewbourne, deputy commander, USTRANSCOM, said in a statement. 

“At USTRANSCOM, we want our understanding of space transportation’s potential to keep pace with the technical and operational realities that are being built now,” Mewbourne said. 

USTRANSCOM has also signed a development agreement with SpaceX and Exploration Architecture for the rocket cargo project. 

The development of the rocket cargo project was first announced in the Department of Defense Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 Budget Estimates last summer. 

Blue Origin’s entry into the military’s rocket cargo project comes as a federal judge rejected the space company’s dispute over who will build the lunar lander. It appears NASA went with Elon Musk’s SpaceX.