The aerospace company, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the eagerly awaited liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday due to unfavorable meteorological conditions at Cape Canaveral.
Mission Postponement Reasons
Precipitation and a ground system issue caused initial delays, then came thick clouds as the 88-minute launch window ended, forcing managers to push back the vehicle's upcoming flight.
Rivalry between Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been intensifying in the past few months.
Rescheduled Attempt
To relieve traffic in the skies during the US federal government shutdown, the aviation regulator is limiting commercial rocket liftoffs from Monday.
After scrubbing the mission, Blue Origin announced on Sunday evening that, working alongside the FAA, it was targeting a new try as early as midweek within a time slot of afternoon hours Eastern Standard time.
Mission Objectives
Upon successful liftoff, the 322-foot New Glenn rocket will carry NASA’s two Mars-bound probes to Mars, to study the Martian atmospheric past with the eventual hope of sending people there.
Blue Origin’s launch will also serve as a key test of whether it can achieve reusable rocket landing, which would prove a technical breakthrough for the company if successful.
Earlier Mission
The rocket's first launch in January was marked as a success, as its cargo achieved orbit and successfully performed experiments.
But its first-stage booster, which was designed as reusable, did not stick its touchdown on a platform in the ocean, and instead was lost during the return phase.
Recovery Efforts
In its second effort Blue Origin will try once more to land the first stage.
Until now, only Musk’s company SpaceX has managed that feat.
Industry Competition
The competing companies of tycoons Musk and Bezos are engaged in a private sector space competition that recently escalated, as the space agency began accepting proposals for its lunar exploration program, noting that one company was falling behind schedule.
The current administration has seen the government push the agency to speed up its progress to send a crewed mission to the lunar surface in competition against China.
More rivalry between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “expand our options with regard to liftoff.”
“More launches means greater innovation in orbit,” a former NASA chief technologist said. “It can’t be a bad thing to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”
