Blue Origin, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to delay the eagerly awaited liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on Sunday because of adverse meteorological factors at the Florida launch site.
Launch Delay Reasons
Precipitation and a ground system issue caused initial delays, followed by thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch closed, forcing mission controllers to reschedule the vehicle's upcoming flight.
Competition between Bezos' firm and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been heating up in the past few months.
Rescheduled Attempt
To ease traffic in the skies amid the government funding gap, the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting private space launches starting the beginning of the week.
After scrubbing the launch, Blue Origin announced on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the FAA, it was aiming for another attempt as soon as midweek within a window of 2.50pm to 4.17pm Eastern Standard time.
Launch Goals
When it eventually launches, the 322-foot New Glenn rocket will carry NASA’s two Mars-bound probes to Mars, in an effort to study the planet’s climate history with the eventual hope of human exploration.
The mission will also serve as a key test of its ability to perform booster recovery, which would represent a technical breakthrough for the company if successful.
Earlier Mission
New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was marked as a success, as its cargo achieved orbit and completed tests.
But its main rocket section, which was meant to be reusable, failed to make its landing on a platform in the ocean, and ended up destroyed during descent.
Recovery Efforts
For this new mission Blue Origin will make another attempt to land the first stage.
Until now, only Musk’s company SpaceX has achieved that accomplishment.
Industry Competition
Rival firms of billionaires Musk and Bezos are engaged in a private sector space competition that has grown more intense lately, as the space agency began accepting bids for its planned moon mission, complaining that one company was lagging behind.
The current administration has involved the government push the agency to speed up its timeline to send a crewed mission to the lunar surface in competition against China.
Increased competition between the two firms could “expand our options with regard to liftoff.”
“Additional missions means greater innovation in space,” an ex-agency official said. “It isn't a bad thing to have Blue Origin, even not in the lead.”
