Blue Origin, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the highly anticipated liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on Sunday because of adverse meteorological conditions at the Florida launch site.
Launch Delay Causes
Precipitation and a ground system issue led to early setbacks, followed by cumulus cloud cover as the 88-minute launch window ended, forcing mission controllers to reschedule the rocket’s planned second mission.
Competition between Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been heating up in recent months.
New Launch Window
To ease traffic in the skies during the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs starting Monday.
After scrubbing the mission, the company said late Sunday that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was targeting a new try as soon as midweek within a window of afternoon hours EST.
Mission Objectives
Upon successful liftoff, the 98-meter New Glenn rocket will transport NASA’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.
Blue Origin’s launch will also act as a crucial trial of its ability to perform booster recovery, which would prove a major advancement for the firm if accomplished.
Earlier Mission
New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was marked as a success, as its cargo reached space and successfully performed experiments.
But its main rocket section, which was designed as recoverable, did not stick its landing on a platform in the ocean, and ended up destroyed during descent.
Recovery Efforts
In its second effort the launch provider will make another attempt to land the booster stage.
Until now, only Musk’s company SpaceX has managed that accomplishment.
Industry Competition
The competing companies of tycoons 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, noting that one company was falling behind schedule.
The current administration has seen the government push NASA to accelerate its progress to send a crewed mission to the lunar surface amid a race with the Asian nation.
More rivalry between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “give us more choices with regard to liftoff.”
“Additional missions means more ideas in orbit,” a former NASA chief technologist stated. “It isn't a negative to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”
