Blue Origin, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was forced to delay the eagerly awaited launch of its New Glenn rocket on the weekend due to unfavorable meteorological conditions at the Florida launch site.
Mission Postponement Reasons
Precipitation and a ground system issue caused early setbacks, followed by cumulus cloud cover as the narrow time frame for launch ended, leaving mission controllers to push back the vehicle's upcoming flight.
Competition between Bezos' firm and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been intensifying in the past few months.
Rescheduled Attempt
To ease airspace congestion during the US federal government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting commercial rocket liftoffs starting the beginning of the week.
Following the cancellation of the launch, Blue Origin said late Sunday that, working alongside the regulatory body, it was aiming for another attempt as soon as midweek within a window of afternoon hours EST.
Launch Goals
When it eventually launches, the 322-foot tall launch vehicle will carry the US space agency's two Mars-bound probes to the Red Planet, to examine the Martian atmospheric past with the eventual hope of sending people there.
Blue Origin’s launch will also act as a key test of its ability to perform reusable rocket landing, which would represent a major advancement for the company if successful.
Earlier Mission
New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was considered a achievement, as its payload achieved orbit and successfully performed tests.
But its main rocket section, which was meant to be reusable, did not stick its landing on a ocean-based target in the Atlantic, and instead was lost during the return phase.
Landing Attempts
For this new mission the launch provider will make another attempt to land the booster stage.
Thus far, only Musk’s company SpaceX has managed that feat.
Industry Competition
Rival firms of billionaires Bezos and Musk are engaged in a commercial space race that has grown more intense lately, as the space agency began accepting proposals for its planned moon mission, noting that SpaceX was lagging behind.
The current administration has seen the government push the agency to speed up its progress to send a crewed mission to the lunar surface amid a race with the Asian nation.
More rivalry between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “expand our options with regard to liftoff.”
“Additional missions means more ideas in space,” a former NASA chief technologist said. “It can’t be a bad thing to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”
