Blue Origin, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to delay the highly anticipated launch of its New Glenn rocket on the weekend because of adverse weather conditions at the Florida launch site.
Mission Postponement Reasons
Rainfall and a technical problem on the ground caused initial delays, then came thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch closed, leaving managers to push back the vehicle's upcoming flight.
Rivalry between Bezos' firm and Musk's space company has been heating up in the past few months.
Rescheduled Attempt
To relieve airspace congestion during the US federal government shutdown, the aviation regulator is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs from Monday.
After scrubbing the launch, Blue Origin said on Sunday evening that, working alongside the FAA, it was aiming for another attempt as soon as Wednesday within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST.
Launch Goals
When it eventually launches, the 322-foot New Glenn rocket will transport NASA’s Escapade twin spacecraft to the Red Planet, to study the planet’s climate history with the long-term goal of human exploration.
The mission will also act as a crucial trial of its ability to perform booster recovery, which would represent a major advancement for the firm if successful.
Earlier Mission
New Glenn’s inaugural flight in January was considered a success, as its payload reached space and completed experiments.
But its first-stage booster, which was designed as recoverable, failed to make its landing on a ocean-based target in the ocean, and instead was lost during descent.
Landing Attempts
For this new mission Blue Origin will try once more to land the booster stage.
Until now, only SpaceX has managed that feat.
Space Race
Rival firms of tycoons Musk and Bezos are locked in a commercial space race that recently escalated, as NASA began accepting bids for its lunar exploration program, noting that SpaceX was falling behind schedule.
The current administration has seen the government push NASA to speed up its timeline to launch astronauts to the lunar surface in competition against China.
Increased competition between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “expand our options with regard to liftoff.”
“Additional missions means greater innovation in orbit,” a former NASA chief technologist stated. “It can’t be a bad thing to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”
