The aerospace company, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to delay the eagerly awaited launch of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday because of unfavorable meteorological conditions at the Florida launch site.
Mission Postponement Reasons
Rainfall and a technical problem on the ground caused initial delays, followed by thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch ended, leaving managers to reschedule the rocket’s planned second mission.
Rivalry between Bezos' firm and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been intensifying in recent months.
Rescheduled Attempt
To relieve airspace congestion amid the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs from Monday.
Following the cancellation of the launch, Blue Origin announced on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was aiming for another attempt as soon as Wednesday within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST.
Mission Objectives
Upon successful liftoff, the 98-meter tall launch vehicle will transport the US space agency's two Mars-bound probes to Mars, to study the planet’s climate history with the eventual hope of sending people there.
Blue Origin’s launch will also serve as a key test of whether it can achieve reusable rocket landing, which would prove a technical breakthrough for the company if successful.
Previous Flight
New Glenn’s inaugural flight in January was marked as a achievement, as its payload reached space and successfully performed experiments.
But its main rocket section, which was designed as reusable, did not stick its touchdown on a ocean-based target in the ocean, 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.
Until now, only Musk’s company SpaceX has managed that feat.
Industry Competition
The competing companies of billionaires Musk and Bezos are engaged in a private sector space competition that recently escalated, as the space agency began accepting proposals for its planned moon mission, complaining that SpaceX was lagging behind.
Donald Trump’s second term has seen the government push NASA to speed up its progress to send a crewed mission to the lunar surface in competition against the Asian nation.
More rivalry between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “expand our options with regard to liftoff.”
“Additional missions means more ideas in orbit,” a former NASA chief technologist said. “It can’t be a bad thing to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”
