LOS ANGELES—Amazon.com Inc. founder and Chief Executive Jeff Bezos vowed to use his rocket startup to develop robotic rovers and perhaps human habitats on the moon’s surface, even if such projects fail to win financial support from the U.S. government.

In a personal, wide-ranging talk at a space conference here Friday, Mr. Bezos laid out his vision for lunar exploration and eventual settlement. Depicting such efforts as a matter of long-term human survival, he said: “This is not something that we may choose to do; this is...