San Francisco, Mar 7 (IANS): Taking a dig at SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's goal of colonising Mars, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has said that Musk should first live on the top of Mount Everest for a year before undertaking a voyage to the Red Planet.

Musk has long advocated the need for a "backup" planet and in November he had told the media that there is "70 per cent chance that he will go to Mars", despite a "good chance" of him not surviving either on the way or after landing.

Bezos, who is also the founder of aerospace company Blue Origin, challenged the idea of settling on Mars in a recent talk, Business Insider reported on Thursday.

"Go live on the top of Mount Everest for a year first and see if you like it, because it's a garden paradise compared to Mars," Bezos was quoted as saying.

Bezos said he wants to use Blue Origin to help move heavy industry into space and "protect this planet".

Blue Origin has set itself a goal of developing reusable rockets, including a system called New Glenn, to dramatically cut the cost of accessing space, said the report.