Blue Origin, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to delay the eagerly awaited liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on Sunday due to unfavorable weather conditions at the Florida launch site.
Launch Delay Reasons
Rainfall and a ground system issue caused initial delays, then came thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch closed, leaving mission controllers to reschedule the vehicle's upcoming flight.
Competition between Bezos' firm and Musk's space company has been intensifying in the past few months.
New Launch Window
To ease airspace congestion amid the government funding gap, the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting commercial rocket liftoffs starting the beginning of the week.
After scrubbing the launch, Blue Origin announced on Sunday evening that, working alongside the FAA, it was targeting a new try as soon as midweek within a window of afternoon hours Eastern Standard time.
Launch Goals
When it eventually launches, the 98-meter New Glenn rocket will carry NASA’s Escapade twin spacecraft to Mars, to study the Martian atmospheric past with the long-term goal of human exploration.
Blue Origin’s launch will also serve as a crucial trial of whether it can achieve booster recovery, which would represent a technical breakthrough for the company if successful.
Earlier Mission
New Glenn’s inaugural flight in January was marked as a achievement, as its cargo achieved orbit and completed tests.
But its main rocket section, which was designed as reusable, failed to make its landing on a ocean-based target in the Atlantic, and instead was lost during the return phase.
Landing Attempts
For this new mission Blue Origin will try once more to recover the first stage.
Until now, only SpaceX has achieved that feat.
Industry Competition
Rival firms of billionaires Bezos and Musk are locked in a private sector space competition that recently escalated, as NASA opened up proposals for its planned moon mission, noting that one company was lagging behind.
Donald Trump’s second term has seen the government push NASA to speed up its progress to launch astronauts to the Moon amid a race with China.
Increased competition between the two firms could “expand our options with regard to liftoff.”
“Additional missions means greater innovation in orbit,” an ex-agency official said. “It can’t be a bad thing to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”
