The aerospace company, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the eagerly awaited launch of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday because of unfavorable meteorological conditions at Cape Canaveral.
Mission Postponement Causes
Precipitation and a ground system issue led to early setbacks, then came thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch closed, leaving mission controllers to reschedule the rocket’s planned second mission.
Competition between Bezos' firm and Musk's space company has been intensifying in recent months.
New Launch Window
To relieve traffic in the skies amid the US federal government shutdown, the aviation regulator is limiting commercial rocket liftoffs starting the beginning of the week.
After scrubbing the launch, Blue Origin announced late Sunday that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was targeting a new try as soon as midweek within a time slot of afternoon hours Eastern Standard time.
Mission Objectives
When it eventually launches, the 98-meter tall launch vehicle will carry NASA’s Escapade twin spacecraft to Mars, in an effort to examine the planet’s climate history with the eventual hope of sending people there.
Blue Origin’s launch will also act as a crucial trial of whether it can achieve reusable rocket landing, which would prove a technical breakthrough for the firm if accomplished.
Earlier Mission
The rocket's first launch in the start of the year was considered a success, as its payload reached space and successfully performed tests.
But its main rocket section, which was meant to be recoverable, did not stick its landing on a platform in the Atlantic, and ended up destroyed during descent.
Landing Attempts
For this new mission Blue Origin will try once more to land the first stage.
Until now, only Musk’s company SpaceX has achieved that feat.
Industry Competition
Rival firms of billionaires Musk and Bezos are engaged in a commercial space race that recently escalated, as the space agency began accepting bids for its lunar exploration program, noting that SpaceX was falling behind schedule.
The current administration has involved the government push the agency to speed up its progress to send a crewed mission to the Moon in competition against China.
More rivalry between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “give us more choices with regard to launch.”
“More launches means more ideas in space,” an ex-agency official stated. “It isn't a bad thing to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”
