The aerospace company, owned by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, was forced to postpone the highly anticipated launch of its New Glenn rocket on the weekend because of adverse meteorological conditions at the Florida launch site.
Launch Delay Causes
Rainfall and a ground system issue led to initial delays, followed by thick clouds as the 88-minute launch window ended, leaving mission controllers to reschedule the rocket’s planned second mission.
Rivalry between Bezos' firm and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been intensifying in recent months.
New Launch Window
To relieve airspace congestion amid the US federal government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs starting the beginning of the week.
After scrubbing the launch, Blue Origin said on Sunday evening that, working alongside the regulatory body, it was targeting another attempt as soon as midweek within a time slot of afternoon hours EST.
Launch Goals
Upon successful liftoff, the 322-foot tall launch vehicle will carry the US space agency's two Mars-bound probes to Mars, in an effort to examine the Martian atmospheric past with the long-term goal of sending people there.
The mission will also serve as a crucial trial of whether it can achieve reusable rocket landing, which would represent a major advancement for the company if successful.
Previous Flight
The rocket's first launch in the start of the year was considered a success, as its cargo achieved orbit and completed tests.
But its first-stage booster, which was designed as reusable, failed to make its landing on a ocean-based target in the ocean, and instead was lost during descent.
Landing Attempts
For this new mission Blue Origin will try once more to recover the first stage.
Until now, only SpaceX has managed that feat.
Space Race
The competing companies of billionaires Bezos and Musk are engaged in a commercial space race that has grown more intense lately, as the space agency began accepting proposals for its planned moon mission, complaining that SpaceX was falling behind schedule.
The current administration has seen the government push NASA 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 “give us more choices with regard to liftoff.”
“More launches means more ideas in space,” a former NASA chief technologist said. “It can’t be a bad thing to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”
