The aerospace company, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was forced to postpone the eagerly awaited launch of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday due to unfavorable weather factors 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, leaving managers to reschedule the vehicle's upcoming flight.
Competition between Bezos' firm and Musk's space company has been intensifying in recent months.
Rescheduled Attempt
To relieve airspace congestion during the US federal government shutdown, the aviation regulator is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs from Monday.
Following the cancellation of the mission, the company announced late Sunday that, in coordination with the FAA, it was targeting another attempt as early as midweek within a window of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST.
Mission Objectives
Upon successful liftoff, the 98-meter tall launch vehicle will carry the US space agency's Escapade twin spacecraft to the Red Planet, to examine the planet’s climate history with the long-term goal of human exploration.
Blue Origin’s launch will also serve as a crucial trial of whether it can achieve reusable rocket landing, which would represent a technical breakthrough for the firm if accomplished.
Previous Flight
New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was considered a achievement, as its cargo achieved orbit and successfully performed experiments.
But its first-stage booster, which was meant to be reusable, did not stick its landing on a ocean-based target in the ocean, and instead was lost during descent.
Recovery Efforts
In its second effort the launch provider will make another attempt to land the first stage.
Until now, only SpaceX has achieved that accomplishment.
Space Race
Rival firms of tycoons Musk and Bezos are engaged in a commercial space race that recently escalated, as NASA began accepting bids for its planned moon mission, complaining that SpaceX was falling behind schedule.
The current administration has seen the administration pile pressure on the agency to speed up its progress to send a crewed mission to the lunar surface in competition against the Asian nation.
Increased competition between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “expand our options with regard to launch.”
“More launches means more ideas in orbit,” an ex-agency official said. “It can’t be a negative to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”
