Blue Origin, founded by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, was forced to delay the highly anticipated liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on the weekend due to unfavorable meteorological conditions at the Florida launch site.
Launch Delay Causes
Rainfall and a technical problem on the ground caused initial delays, followed by thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch ended, forcing mission controllers to reschedule the vehicle's upcoming flight.
Rivalry between Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been heating up in recent months.
New Launch Window
To relieve airspace congestion during the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is restricting private space launches from the beginning of the week.
After scrubbing the mission, Blue Origin said late Sunday that, working alongside the regulatory body, it was aiming for a new try as early as midweek within a time slot of afternoon hours EST.
Mission Objectives
When it eventually launches, the 98-meter tall launch vehicle will carry the US space agency's Escapade twin spacecraft to the Red Planet, to examine the planet’s climate history with the eventual hope of sending people there.
Blue Origin’s launch will also act as a key test of whether it can achieve booster recovery, which would represent a major advancement for the company if accomplished.
Earlier Mission
The rocket's first launch in January was considered a achievement, as its payload achieved orbit and completed experiments.
But its main rocket section, which was designed as reusable, failed to make its landing on a ocean-based target in the ocean, and instead was lost during the return phase.
Landing Attempts
For this new mission the launch provider will make another attempt to recover the first stage.
Until now, only Musk’s company SpaceX has managed that accomplishment.
Space Race
The competing companies of tycoons Bezos and Musk are engaged in a private sector space competition that recently escalated, as the space agency opened up proposals for its planned moon mission, complaining that one company was lagging behind.
Donald Trump’s second term has seen the administration pile pressure on NASA to speed up its timeline to launch astronauts to the lunar surface amid a race with the Asian nation.
More rivalry between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “give us more choices with regard to liftoff.”
“Additional missions means greater innovation in orbit,” a former NASA chief technologist stated. “It can’t be a negative to have the competitor, even trailing behind.”
