When asked about why space exploration appears to be a common interest among tech entrepreneurs such as himself, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and Virgin Group founder Richard Branson, Bezos replied with the following:

"We are really evolved to be pioneers," Bezos told Business Insider CEO Henry Blodget at this year's Ignition conference. "And for good reason. New worlds have a way of saving old worlds... And that's how it should be. We need the frontier. My vision is I want to see millions of people living and working in space."

Bezos' private spaceflight company Blue Origin is currently working with the United Launch Alliance to build a new liquid rocket engine called the BE-4. The United Launch Alliance is said to be one of the biggest rivals to Musk's commercial spaceflight company SpaceX.

The vehicle Bezos' company is working on uses a modern booster engine, which is said to be more efficient than those made 20-30 years ago, reports The Washington Post. Bezos also said the vehicle is autonomous, so there's no need to send test pilots when they're running trials with it.