The aerospace company, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the highly anticipated launch of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday due to adverse weather factors at the Florida launch site.
Mission Postponement Reasons
Rainfall and a ground system issue led to initial delays, then came thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch closed, forcing managers to push back the rocket’s planned second mission.
Rivalry between Blue Origin and Musk's space company has been heating up in recent months.
New Launch Window
To relieve traffic in the skies during the US federal government shutdown, the aviation regulator is limiting commercial rocket liftoffs starting the beginning of the week.
Following the cancellation of the launch, the company announced on Sunday evening that, working alongside the regulatory body, it was aiming for a new try as early as midweek within a window of afternoon hours EST.
Mission Objectives
Upon successful liftoff, the 98-meter New Glenn rocket will transport the US space agency's two Mars-bound probes to the Red Planet, in an effort to study the Martian atmospheric past with the long-term goal of human exploration.
The mission will also act as a key test of its ability to perform booster recovery, which would prove a major advancement for the company if accomplished.
Previous Flight
The rocket's first launch in January was marked as a achievement, as its cargo reached space and successfully performed experiments.
But its first-stage booster, which was designed as reusable, did not stick its landing on a ocean-based target in the ocean, and ended up destroyed during the return phase.
Recovery Efforts
For this new mission Blue Origin will make another attempt to land the first stage.
Thus far, only SpaceX has achieved that accomplishment.
Space Race
The competing companies of billionaires Musk and Bezos are locked in a private sector space competition that recently escalated, as NASA opened up proposals for its planned moon mission, complaining that SpaceX was falling behind schedule.
Donald Trump’s second term has seen the administration push NASA to accelerate its progress to send a crewed mission to the Moon in competition against China.
More rivalry between the two firms could “expand our options with regard to launch.”
“More launches means greater innovation in orbit,” an ex-agency official said. “It can’t be a negative to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”
