Blue Origin, founded by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, had to delay the highly anticipated liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on the weekend because of adverse meteorological factors at Cape Canaveral.
Launch Delay Causes
Rainfall and a technical problem on the ground caused initial delays, then came thick clouds as the 88-minute launch window closed, forcing mission controllers to push back the rocket’s planned second mission.
Competition between Bezos' firm and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been heating up in recent months.
Rescheduled Attempt
To relieve airspace congestion amid the US federal government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting private space launches starting the beginning of the week.
After scrubbing the mission, Blue Origin announced on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the FAA, it was targeting another attempt as soon as midweek within a time slot of afternoon hours EST.
Launch Goals
When it eventually launches, the 98-meter New Glenn rocket will carry NASA’s two Mars-bound probes to Mars, to study the Martian atmospheric past with the eventual hope of sending people there.
The mission will also act as a key test of whether it can achieve booster recovery, which would represent a technical breakthrough for the company if successful.
Previous Flight
The rocket's first launch 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 recoverable, failed to make its touchdown on a ocean-based target in the Atlantic, and instead was lost during descent.
Landing Attempts
For this new mission the launch provider will try once more to land the booster stage.
Until now, only Musk’s company SpaceX has achieved that accomplishment.
Space Race
The competing companies of tycoons Bezos and Musk are engaged in a commercial space race that recently escalated, as NASA opened up proposals for its planned moon mission, noting that one company was falling behind schedule.
Donald Trump’s second term has involved the administration pile pressure on the agency to accelerate its progress to send a crewed mission to the lunar surface in competition against the Asian nation.
Increased competition between the two firms could “give us more choices with regard to liftoff.”
“Additional missions means greater innovation in space,” a former NASA chief technologist said. “It can’t be a negative to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”
