Blue Origin, founded by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, was forced to delay the eagerly awaited liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on the weekend because of adverse weather conditions at the Florida launch site.
Launch Delay Causes
Rainfall and a ground system issue led to early setbacks, followed by cumulus cloud cover as the narrow time frame for launch closed, leaving mission controllers to reschedule the rocket’s planned second mission.
Rivalry between Blue Origin and Musk's space company has been heating up in recent months.
New Launch Window
To relieve airspace congestion during the US federal government shutdown, the aviation regulator is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs starting the beginning of the week.
After scrubbing the mission, Blue Origin announced on Sunday evening that, working alongside the FAA, it was aiming for a new try as soon as Wednesday within a window of afternoon hours Eastern Standard time.
Mission Objectives
Upon successful liftoff, the 322-foot tall launch vehicle will carry the US space agency's two Mars-bound probes to Mars, to examine the planet’s climate history with the eventual hope of human exploration.
The mission will also act as a key test of its ability to perform booster recovery, which would represent a major advancement for the company if accomplished.
Previous Flight
The rocket's first launch in the start of the year was considered a success, as its payload achieved orbit and completed tests.
But its first-stage booster, which was designed as recoverable, failed to make its landing on a platform in the ocean, and ended up destroyed during descent.
Recovery Efforts
For this new mission Blue Origin will make another attempt to recover the booster stage.
Until now, only Musk’s company SpaceX has managed that feat.
Space Race
The competing companies of billionaires Musk and Bezos are locked in a private sector space competition that recently escalated, as the space agency opened up bids for its planned moon mission, complaining that one company was falling behind schedule.
The current administration has involved the government push the agency to speed up its progress to launch astronauts to the Moon amid a race with China.
More rivalry between the two firms could “give us more choices with regard to launch.”
“More launches means greater innovation in space,” an ex-agency official stated. “It isn't a negative to have Blue Origin, even not in the lead.”
