Blue Origin, founded by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, was forced to postpone the highly anticipated launch of its powerful launch vehicle on Sunday because of unfavorable meteorological conditions at Cape Canaveral.
Launch Delay Reasons
Precipitation and a ground system issue caused initial delays, then came thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch ended, leaving mission controllers to reschedule the rocket’s planned second mission.
Competition between Bezos' firm and Musk's space company has been heating up in recent months.
New Launch Window
To ease traffic in the skies during the government funding gap, 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 regulatory body, it was targeting another attempt as early as midweek within a window of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST.
Launch Goals
When it eventually launches, the 98-meter tall launch vehicle will carry NASA’s two Mars-bound probes to the Red Planet, in an effort to examine the planet’s climate history with the long-term goal of sending people there.
Blue Origin’s launch 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.
Previous Flight
New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was considered a success, as its cargo achieved orbit and completed tests.
But its first-stage booster, which was designed as reusable, failed to make its touchdown on a ocean-based target in the ocean, and instead was lost during the return phase.
Landing Attempts
For this new mission the launch provider will make another attempt to recover the booster stage.
Thus far, only SpaceX has achieved that feat.
Space Race
The competing companies of tycoons Bezos and Musk are locked in a private sector space competition that recently escalated, as NASA opened up proposals for its lunar exploration program, noting that one company was falling behind schedule.
Donald Trump’s second term has seen the administration push NASA to speed up its timeline to send a crewed mission to the lunar surface in competition against China.
More rivalry between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “give us more choices with regard to launch.”
“Additional missions means more ideas in orbit,” a former NASA chief technologist stated. “It isn't a bad thing to have Blue Origin, even not in the lead.”
