Blue Origin, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the eagerly awaited liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on the weekend due to unfavorable meteorological factors at Cape Canaveral.
Mission Postponement Causes
Precipitation and a ground system issue caused initial delays, followed by thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch closed, leaving managers to reschedule the rocket’s planned second mission.
Competition between Blue Origin and Musk's space company has been intensifying in the past few months.
Rescheduled Attempt
To ease airspace congestion amid the government funding gap, the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting private space launches starting Monday.
Following the cancellation of the launch, the company said late Sunday that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was aiming for a new try as soon as Wednesday within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST.
Launch Goals
Upon successful liftoff, the 322-foot New Glenn rocket will transport the US space agency's Escapade twin spacecraft to the Red Planet, to study the planet’s climate history with the long-term goal of human exploration.
The mission will also serve as a crucial trial of its ability to perform booster recovery, which would prove a major advancement for the firm if accomplished.
Previous Flight
New Glenn’s inaugural flight in January was marked as a achievement, as its payload reached space and successfully performed experiments.
But its main rocket section, which was meant to be recoverable, did not stick its landing on a ocean-based target in the ocean, and instead was lost during descent.
Landing Attempts
In its second effort Blue Origin will make another attempt to recover the first stage.
Thus far, only SpaceX has achieved that feat.
Industry Competition
Rival firms of tycoons Bezos and Musk are engaged in a commercial space race that has grown more intense lately, as NASA began accepting proposals for its planned moon mission, complaining that SpaceX was lagging behind.
Donald Trump’s second term has involved the government pile pressure on the agency to speed up its progress to launch astronauts to the Moon in competition against China.
More rivalry between the two firms could “expand our options with regard to launch.”
“More launches means greater innovation in space,” an ex-agency official said. “It isn't a negative to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”
