The aerospace company, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was forced to delay the highly anticipated launch of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday due to unfavorable meteorological conditions at the Florida launch site.
Mission Postponement Reasons
Precipitation and a ground system issue caused initial delays, then came thick clouds as the 88-minute launch window closed, leaving mission controllers 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.
New Launch Window
To relieve traffic in the skies amid the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is limiting commercial rocket liftoffs starting Monday.
Following the cancellation of the launch, Blue Origin said on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the FAA, it was targeting a new try as early as midweek within a window of afternoon hours EST.
Mission Objectives
When it eventually launches, the 322-foot New Glenn rocket will transport NASA’s two Mars-bound probes to the Red Planet, in an effort to examine the Martian atmospheric past with the eventual hope of sending people there.
Blue Origin’s launch will also act as a crucial trial of its ability to perform reusable rocket landing, which would represent a technical breakthrough for the company if successful.
Previous Flight
The rocket's first launch in January was considered a success, as its cargo reached space and successfully performed experiments.
But its main rocket section, which was designed as recoverable, failed to make its touchdown on a ocean-based target in the ocean, and instead was lost during descent.
Recovery Efforts
For this new mission Blue Origin will make another attempt to recover the first stage.
Until now, only Musk’s company SpaceX has managed that accomplishment.
Space Race
Rival firms of tycoons Musk and Bezos are engaged in a commercial space race that has grown more intense lately, as NASA opened up proposals for its lunar exploration program, noting that SpaceX was falling behind schedule.
The current administration has seen the administration pile pressure on the agency to speed up its progress to launch astronauts to the lunar surface in competition against China.
Increased competition between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “give us more choices with regard to launch.”
“Additional missions means more ideas in space,” a former NASA chief technologist stated. “It can’t be a negative to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”
