Blue Origin, founded by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, was forced to delay the highly anticipated liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on the weekend because of unfavorable meteorological conditions at the Florida launch site.
Mission Postponement Reasons
Precipitation and a ground system issue led to initial delays, then came thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch ended, forcing mission controllers to push back the rocket’s planned second mission.
Rivalry between Bezos' firm and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been intensifying in recent months.
Rescheduled Attempt
To relieve traffic in the skies amid the government funding gap, the Federal Aviation Administration is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs from the beginning of the week.
After scrubbing the launch, the company announced late Sunday that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was targeting another attempt as early as Wednesday within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST.
Launch Goals
Upon successful liftoff, the 98-meter New Glenn rocket will carry NASA’s Escapade twin spacecraft to Mars, in an effort to examine the Martian atmospheric past with the long-term goal of human exploration.
The mission will also serve as a key test of whether it can achieve booster recovery, which would represent a major advancement for the company if accomplished.
Earlier Mission
The rocket's first launch in January was marked as a success, as its cargo reached space and successfully performed experiments.
But its first-stage booster, which was designed as recoverable, did not stick its landing on a ocean-based target in the Atlantic, and ended up destroyed 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 feat.
Space Race
The competing companies of tycoons Bezos and Musk 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, noting that one company was lagging behind.
Donald Trump’s second term has involved the administration push the agency to accelerate its progress to launch astronauts to the Moon in competition against China.
Increased competition between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “give us more choices with regard to liftoff.”
“More launches means more ideas in orbit,” an ex-agency official stated. “It can’t be a bad thing to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”
