Amazon's (AMZN) MARS conference is back.
After a two-year layoff due to the pandemic, Amazon's annual, invite-only Machine learning, Automation, Robotics and Space conference.
Former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has been a loyal attendee of the event since its inception in 2016, and this year's event was no different.
In fact, Bezos is so devoted to the conference that he missed the latest Blue Origin shuttle launch which took Marc and Sharon Hagle, the first married couple to fly on a commercial spaceship, into suborbital space on Thursday.
The Hagles joined four other tourists on Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket ship which blasted off at 8:57 AM CT on Thursday. Bezos is normally front and center for the Blue Origin launches, but the MARS conference was apparently more important for him.
The robotic tech on display was impressive, including a seemingly autonomous robot and a jetpack.
William Shatner made an appearance at the conference, detailing his experience last year of becoming the first actor to ever be blasted into space.
There were also robotic animals on display.
While MARS is only for the elites, the event has become so popular that Amazon now also has a version that is open to public.
For just $1,500, you can go to Las Vegas between June 21 and June 24 for re: MARS, the public version of the conference.
So far the event only has five speakers, according to the re:MARS website, including Kevin O'Brien, CEO of geospatial analytics company Orbital Insight and Jessie Levinson, CTO of autonomous vehicle technology, and Amazon subsidiary, Zoox, among others.
