Blue Origin, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the eagerly awaited launch of its New Glenn rocket on the weekend due to adverse meteorological factors at the Florida launch site.
Mission Postponement Causes
Precipitation and a ground system issue caused early setbacks, then came cumulus cloud cover as the 88-minute launch window closed, leaving managers to reschedule the rocket’s planned second mission.
Competition between Blue Origin and Musk's space company has been heating up in recent months.
Rescheduled Attempt
To relieve traffic in the skies amid the US federal government shutdown, the aviation regulator is limiting commercial rocket liftoffs starting Monday.
After scrubbing the mission, the company said late Sunday that, working alongside the regulatory body, it was aiming for another attempt as soon as midweek within a time slot of afternoon hours Eastern Standard time.
Mission Objectives
Upon successful liftoff, the 98-meter tall launch vehicle will transport the US space agency's Escapade twin spacecraft to the Red Planet, to examine the Martian atmospheric past with the eventual hope of human exploration.
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 firm if successful.
Previous Flight
New Glenn’s inaugural flight in January was considered a achievement, as its cargo achieved orbit and successfully performed experiments.
But its first-stage booster, which was meant to be reusable, failed to make its landing on a platform in the Atlantic, and ended up destroyed during the return phase.
Recovery Efforts
In its second effort the launch provider will try once more to recover the booster stage.
Until now, only SpaceX has managed that feat.
Space Race
Rival firms of tycoons Bezos and Musk are locked in a commercial space race that has grown more intense lately, as NASA opened up proposals for its planned moon mission, complaining that one company was falling behind schedule.
Donald Trump’s second term has involved the government pile pressure on the agency to accelerate its progress to launch astronauts to the Moon amid a race with the Asian nation.
Increased competition between the two firms could “expand our options with regard to launch.”
“More launches means greater innovation in orbit,” a former NASA chief technologist stated. “It isn't a negative to have Blue Origin, even not in the lead.”
