Blue Origin, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to delay the eagerly awaited liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on the weekend because of adverse weather factors at the Florida launch site.
Mission Postponement Causes
Precipitation and a technical problem on the ground caused initial delays, then came cumulus cloud cover as the 88-minute launch window closed, forcing mission controllers to reschedule the rocket’s planned second mission.
Competition between Bezos' firm and Musk's space company has been intensifying in the past few months.
New Launch Window
To relieve traffic in the skies amid the government funding gap, the Federal Aviation Administration is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs from Monday.
After scrubbing the mission, Blue Origin said on Sunday evening that, working alongside the FAA, it was targeting another attempt as soon as Wednesday within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST.
Mission Objectives
When it eventually launches, the 98-meter New Glenn rocket will transport the US space agency's two Mars-bound probes to Mars, to examine the planet’s climate history with the long-term goal of sending people there.
Blue Origin’s launch will also serve as a key test of its ability to perform reusable rocket landing, which would represent a major advancement for the company if accomplished.
Earlier Mission
New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was considered a achievement, as its payload reached space and successfully performed experiments.
But its main rocket section, which was designed as recoverable, failed to make its landing on a ocean-based target in the ocean, and ended up destroyed during descent.
Landing Attempts
In its second effort Blue Origin will make another attempt to recover the first stage.
Thus far, only SpaceX has managed that accomplishment.
Industry Competition
The competing companies of billionaires Bezos and Musk are engaged in a private sector space competition that recently escalated, as the space agency opened up bids for its lunar exploration program, complaining that one company was falling behind schedule.
The current administration has seen the government push the agency to speed up its timeline to send a crewed mission to the Moon in competition against the Asian nation.
More rivalry between the two firms could “expand our options with regard to liftoff.”
“More launches means greater innovation in space,” a former NASA chief technologist said. “It can’t be a negative to have the competitor, even trailing behind.”
