Blue Origin, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was forced to delay the eagerly awaited launch of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday because of unfavorable meteorological conditions at the Florida launch site.
Launch Delay Reasons
Precipitation and a ground system issue caused initial delays, then came cumulus cloud cover as the 88-minute launch window ended, leaving mission controllers to push back the rocket’s planned second mission.
Rivalry between Bezos' firm and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been intensifying in the past few months.
New Launch Window
To relieve airspace congestion amid the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs from Monday.
After scrubbing the launch, the company said on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was aiming for a new try as early as Wednesday within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm Eastern Standard time.
Launch Goals
Upon successful liftoff, the 98-meter tall launch vehicle will transport the US space agency's Escapade twin spacecraft to the Red Planet, in an effort to examine the Martian atmospheric past with the long-term goal of human exploration.
Blue Origin’s launch will also act as a key test of whether it can achieve booster recovery, which would represent a major advancement for the company if successful.
Previous Flight
The rocket's first launch in January was considered a achievement, as its payload achieved orbit and successfully performed experiments.
But its main rocket section, which was meant to be reusable, did not stick its landing on a platform in the Atlantic, and instead was lost during the return phase.
Recovery Efforts
For this new mission Blue Origin will make another attempt to recover the booster stage.
Thus far, only SpaceX has managed that accomplishment.
Industry Competition
The competing companies of billionaires Bezos and Musk are engaged in a private sector space competition that has grown more intense lately, as NASA began accepting proposals for its planned moon mission, noting that one company was falling behind schedule.
The current administration has seen the government pile pressure on NASA to speed up its timeline to send a crewed mission to the lunar surface in competition against China.
Increased competition between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “expand our options with regard to launch.”
“Additional missions means more ideas in space,” an ex-agency official stated. “It isn't a bad thing to have the competitor, even trailing behind.”
