Jeff Bezos‘ private space transport company is designing a large lunar lander that it claims will provide reusable access to the moon’s surface.

Blue Origin‘s lander is part of the firm’s mission to help create a future where millions of people live and work in space, the company said in a statement.

Researchers are currently in the conceptual design phase of the project.

“The next logical step in this path is a return to the Moon,” a spokesperson for Blue Origin said on Wednesday.

“To do this we need reusable access to the lunar surface and its resources.”

The company has previously said it aims to land on the moon in about five years, but offered no further details about how this could be achieved.

Mr Bezos, who is also the CEO of Amazon, has predicted that humans will eventually leave the Earth and live on other planets, moons and asteroids.

He told a space conference in May that he hopes Blue Origin can work together with NASA and the European Space Agency to establish a colony on the moon.

The company is also developing its New Shepherd rocket for space tourism.

Blue Origin aims to carry tourists to sub-orbital altitudes so that can briefly experience weightlessness and views of Earth from above.

Its researchers are also working on a heavy-lift launch rocket called New Glenn for satellite launch contracts.

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Despite the company’s success it faces strong competition from other aerospace companies, including SpaceX, which was founded by Mr Bezos’ fellow billionaire Elon Musk.

SpaceX recently announced that Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa will be the firm’s first private passenger to travel to the moon in the Big Falcon Rocket, due for launch in 2023.