The aerospace company, owned by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, had to delay the highly anticipated launch of its New Glenn rocket on the weekend because of adverse meteorological factors at Cape Canaveral.
Mission Postponement Causes
Precipitation and a ground system issue caused early setbacks, followed by thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch closed, forcing mission controllers to reschedule the vehicle's upcoming flight.
Competition between Blue Origin and Musk's space company has been intensifying in the past few months.
New Launch Window
To ease airspace congestion during the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is limiting commercial rocket liftoffs from the beginning of the week.
After scrubbing the launch, the company announced on Sunday evening that, working alongside the FAA, it was targeting a new try as early as midweek within a window of afternoon hours EST.
Launch Goals
When it eventually launches, the 322-foot New Glenn rocket will carry NASA’s Escapade twin spacecraft to Mars, to examine the planet’s climate history with the eventual hope of sending people there.
Blue Origin’s launch will also act as a crucial trial of its ability to perform booster recovery, which would represent a technical breakthrough for the company if accomplished.
Earlier Mission
New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was marked as a achievement, as its payload achieved orbit and successfully performed experiments.
But its main rocket section, which was meant to be reusable, did not stick its landing on a platform in the Atlantic, and instead was lost during the return phase.
Landing Attempts
In its second effort the launch provider will make another attempt to land the first stage.
Thus far, only SpaceX has managed that feat.
Space Race
The competing companies of billionaires Bezos and Musk are engaged in a private sector space competition that recently escalated, as NASA opened up bids for its planned moon mission, noting that SpaceX was lagging behind.
Donald Trump’s second term has seen the government pile pressure on NASA to accelerate its timeline to send a crewed mission to the lunar surface in competition against the Asian nation.
More rivalry between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “expand our options with regard to liftoff.”
“Additional missions means more ideas in orbit,” a former NASA chief technologist said. “It isn't a bad thing to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”
