The aerospace company, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to delay the eagerly awaited launch of its New Glenn rocket on the weekend because of unfavorable meteorological conditions at the Florida launch site.
Mission Postponement Causes
Precipitation and a ground system issue caused early setbacks, followed by cumulus cloud cover as the 88-minute launch window closed, leaving 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 aviation regulator is limiting private space launches starting the beginning of the week.
After scrubbing the mission, the company announced on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was targeting another attempt as soon as Wednesday within a window of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST.
Launch Goals
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 study the planet’s climate history with the eventual hope of human exploration.
Blue Origin’s launch will also act as a key test of its ability to perform booster recovery, which would prove a major advancement for the firm if accomplished.
Earlier Mission
New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was considered a achievement, 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 platform in the Atlantic, and instead was lost during descent.
Landing Attempts
For this new mission Blue Origin will try once more to land the first stage.
Until now, only SpaceX has achieved that feat.
Space Race
Rival firms of billionaires Bezos and Musk are locked in a commercial space race that has grown more intense lately, as NASA began accepting proposals for its lunar exploration program, noting that one company was lagging behind.
Donald Trump’s second term has involved the government push the agency to speed up its timeline to send a crewed mission to the Moon in competition against the Asian nation.
Increased competition between the two firms could “give us more choices with regard to launch.”
“More launches means greater innovation in space,” a former NASA chief technologist stated. “It isn't a bad thing to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”
