Blue Origin, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was forced to delay the eagerly awaited liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on the weekend due to adverse meteorological factors at the Florida launch site.
Mission Postponement Causes
Precipitation and a technical problem on the ground led to initial delays, followed by cumulus cloud cover as the 88-minute launch window closed, forcing mission controllers to push back the rocket’s planned second mission.
Competition between Bezos' firm and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been intensifying in the past few months.
Rescheduled Attempt
To ease airspace congestion during the US federal government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration is restricting private space launches starting the beginning of the week.
Following the cancellation of the mission, Blue Origin announced late Sunday that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was aiming for another attempt as soon as midweek within a window of afternoon hours EST.
Mission Objectives
Upon successful liftoff, the 98-meter New Glenn rocket will carry NASA’s two Mars-bound probes to the Red Planet, in an effort to study the Martian atmospheric past with the long-term goal of human exploration.
The mission will also serve as a crucial trial of whether it can achieve reusable rocket landing, which would represent a major advancement for the company if successful.
Previous Flight
New Glenn’s inaugural flight in January was considered a success, as its cargo achieved orbit and successfully performed tests.
But its main rocket section, which was meant to be reusable, failed to make its landing on a platform in the Atlantic, and instead was lost during the return phase.
Landing Attempts
For this new mission the launch provider will make another attempt to land the first stage.
Until now, only SpaceX has achieved that accomplishment.
Industry Competition
Rival firms of billionaires Musk and Bezos are locked in a private sector space competition that has grown more intense lately, as the space agency began accepting proposals for its lunar exploration program, 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 the two firms could “give us more choices with regard to launch.”
“More launches means more ideas in space,” a former NASA chief technologist said. “It can’t be a negative to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”
