The aerospace company, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was forced to delay the highly anticipated liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on the weekend because of unfavorable weather conditions at the Florida launch site.
Mission Postponement Causes
Rainfall and a ground system issue led to initial delays, then came thick clouds as the 88-minute launch window closed, leaving mission controllers to push back the vehicle's upcoming flight.
Rivalry between Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been intensifying in the past few months.
Rescheduled Attempt
To ease airspace congestion amid the US federal government shutdown, the aviation regulator is restricting private space launches from Monday.
After scrubbing the mission, Blue Origin said on Sunday evening that, working alongside the FAA, it was aiming for a new try as early as midweek within a time slot of afternoon hours EST.
Launch Goals
When it eventually launches, the 322-foot tall launch vehicle will transport the US space agency's Escapade twin spacecraft to Mars, to study the planet’s climate history with the eventual hope of sending people there.
The mission will also serve as a crucial trial of its ability to perform reusable rocket landing, which would represent a major advancement for the company if accomplished.
Previous Flight
New Glenn’s inaugural flight in January was considered a achievement, as its payload achieved orbit and successfully performed experiments.
But its main rocket section, which was designed as reusable, failed to make its touchdown on a ocean-based target in the Atlantic, and instead was lost during the return phase.
Landing Attempts
In its second effort Blue Origin will try once more to recover the booster stage.
Thus far, only SpaceX has achieved that feat.
Space Race
Rival firms of tycoons Musk and Bezos are engaged in a commercial space race that recently escalated, as the space agency began accepting proposals for its lunar exploration program, noting that one company was falling behind schedule.
The current administration has involved the government push the agency to accelerate its progress to send a crewed mission to the Moon amid a race with China.
More rivalry between the two firms could “expand our options with regard to launch.”
“Additional missions means more ideas in space,” a former NASA chief technologist said. “It can’t be a negative to have the competitor, even trailing behind.”
