The aerospace company, founded by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, was forced to postpone the highly anticipated launch of its New Glenn rocket on the weekend due to unfavorable meteorological conditions at Cape Canaveral.
Mission Postponement Reasons
Rainfall and a ground system issue caused initial delays, followed by cumulus cloud cover as the narrow time frame for launch closed, leaving mission controllers to push back the vehicle's upcoming flight.
Rivalry between Bezos' firm and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been intensifying in recent months.
Rescheduled Attempt
To relieve traffic in the skies during the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs starting the beginning of the week.
After scrubbing the mission, the company said late Sunday that, in coordination with the FAA, it was targeting another attempt as soon as Wednesday within a window of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST.
Mission Objectives
When it eventually launches, the 322-foot New Glenn rocket will carry NASA’s Escapade twin spacecraft to the Red Planet, in an effort to study the Martian atmospheric past with the eventual hope of sending people there.
Blue Origin’s launch will also serve as a key test of its ability to perform booster recovery, which would prove a technical breakthrough for the company if successful.
Previous Flight
The rocket's first launch in January was considered a success, as its cargo achieved orbit and successfully performed tests.
But its main rocket section, which was designed as recoverable, failed to make its touchdown on a platform in the Atlantic, and ended up destroyed during descent.
Recovery Efforts
In its second effort the launch provider will make another attempt to land the first stage.
Until now, only SpaceX has managed that feat.
Space Race
The competing companies of tycoons Bezos and Musk are locked in a private sector space competition that recently escalated, as NASA began accepting proposals for its lunar exploration program, complaining that SpaceX was lagging behind.
The current administration has seen the administration pile pressure on NASA to accelerate its progress to launch astronauts to the Moon in competition against China.
More rivalry between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “expand our options with regard to launch.”
“More launches means more ideas in space,” an ex-agency official stated. “It isn't a negative to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”
