The aerospace company, founded by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, had to delay the highly anticipated launch of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday because of adverse weather factors at Cape Canaveral.
Launch Delay Causes
Rainfall and a technical problem on the ground led to initial delays, followed by thick clouds as the 88-minute launch window closed, forcing managers to push back the vehicle's upcoming flight.
Rivalry between Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been heating up in recent months.
Rescheduled Attempt
To relieve airspace congestion during the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is restricting private space launches from Monday.
After scrubbing the launch, the company said on Sunday evening that, working alongside the FAA, it was aiming for another attempt as soon as midweek within a window of 2.50pm to 4.17pm Eastern Standard time.
Mission Objectives
When it eventually launches, the 322-foot tall launch vehicle will transport the US space agency's two Mars-bound probes to Mars, to examine the planet’s climate history with the eventual hope of human exploration.
The mission will also act as a key test of its ability to perform booster recovery, which would represent a technical breakthrough for the company if successful.
Previous Flight
New Glenn’s inaugural flight 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 touchdown on a platform in the Atlantic, and ended up destroyed during descent.
Recovery Efforts
For this new mission Blue Origin will make another attempt to recover the booster stage.
Until now, only SpaceX has managed that accomplishment.
Space Race
The competing companies of billionaires Bezos and Musk are locked in a private sector space competition that has grown more intense lately, as the space agency opened up proposals for its lunar exploration program, noting that one company was lagging behind.
Donald Trump’s second term has seen the administration push the agency to speed up its progress to launch astronauts to the lunar surface amid a race with the Asian nation.
Increased competition between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “expand our options with regard to liftoff.”
“Additional missions means more ideas in space,” an ex-agency official stated. “It can’t be a bad thing to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”
