The aerospace company, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the highly anticipated launch of its New Glenn rocket on the weekend due to unfavorable weather conditions at the Florida launch site.
Launch Delay Causes
Rainfall and a technical problem on the ground led to initial delays, followed by thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch ended, leaving managers to push back the rocket’s planned second mission.
Rivalry between Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been intensifying in the past few months.
Rescheduled Attempt
To ease airspace congestion during the government funding gap, the Federal Aviation Administration is restricting private space launches from the beginning of the week.
After scrubbing the launch, the company said late Sunday that, working alongside the FAA, it was targeting another attempt as soon as midweek within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm Eastern Standard time.
Mission Objectives
When it eventually launches, the 98-meter New Glenn rocket will transport NASA’s two Mars-bound probes to the Red Planet, in an effort 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 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 meant to be reusable, did not stick its landing on a platform in the Atlantic, 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.
Until now, only Musk’s company SpaceX has achieved that accomplishment.
Space Race
Rival firms of tycoons Musk and Bezos are locked in a commercial space race that recently escalated, as NASA opened up bids for its lunar exploration program, complaining that one company was falling behind schedule.
Donald Trump’s second term has seen the administration pile pressure on the agency to accelerate its timeline to send a crewed mission to the lunar surface in competition against China.
More rivalry between the two firms could “give us more choices with regard to launch.”
“Additional missions means more ideas in orbit,” a former NASA chief technologist stated. “It can’t be a bad thing to have Blue Origin, even not in the lead.”
