The aerospace company, owned by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the highly anticipated liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on the weekend because of unfavorable weather factors at the Florida launch site.
Mission Postponement Reasons
Rainfall and a technical problem on the ground led to initial delays, followed by cumulus cloud cover 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 heating up in the past few months.
New Launch Window
To relieve airspace congestion amid the government funding gap, the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting private space launches from Monday.
Following the cancellation of the launch, Blue Origin announced late Sunday that, in coordination with the FAA, it was targeting a new try as soon as Wednesday within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST.
Launch Goals
Upon successful liftoff, the 98-meter tall launch vehicle will carry the US space agency's two Mars-bound probes to Mars, in an effort to study the planet’s climate history with the long-term goal of human exploration.
The mission will also serve as a key test of its ability to perform reusable rocket landing, which would represent a technical breakthrough for the company if successful.
Earlier Mission
The rocket's first launch in January was marked as a achievement, as its cargo reached space and completed tests.
But its first-stage booster, which was meant to be reusable, failed to make its touchdown on a platform in the ocean, and instead was lost during the return phase.
Landing Attempts
For this new mission Blue Origin will try once more to recover the booster stage.
Until now, only SpaceX has achieved that feat.
Industry Competition
Rival firms 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, complaining that SpaceX was falling behind schedule.
The current administration has involved the administration push NASA to accelerate its timeline to send a crewed mission to the lunar surface amid a race with the Asian nation.
Increased competition between the two firms could “expand our options with regard to liftoff.”
“More launches means greater innovation in orbit,” a former NASA chief technologist stated. “It can’t be a negative to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”
