Blue Origin, founded by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the eagerly awaited launch of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday because of adverse weather conditions at Cape Canaveral.
Mission Postponement Reasons
Precipitation and a ground system issue caused initial delays, then came thick clouds as the 88-minute launch window closed, forcing mission controllers to reschedule the vehicle's upcoming flight.
Rivalry between Bezos' firm and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been intensifying in recent months.
New Launch Window
To relieve traffic in the skies amid the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is limiting private space launches starting Monday.
After scrubbing the mission, Blue Origin said on Sunday evening that, working alongside the FAA, it was targeting a new try as early as Wednesday within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST.
Launch Goals
Upon successful liftoff, the 98-meter New Glenn rocket will carry NASA’s Escapade twin spacecraft to Mars, to examine the Martian atmospheric past with the long-term goal of human exploration.
Blue Origin’s launch will also serve as a crucial trial of its ability to perform reusable rocket landing, which would prove a major advancement for the firm if successful.
Earlier Mission
The rocket's first launch in January was considered a achievement, as its cargo reached space and successfully performed tests.
But its first-stage booster, which was meant to be reusable, failed to make its landing on a ocean-based target in the ocean, and instead was lost during descent.
Recovery Efforts
In its second effort the launch provider will make another attempt to recover the booster stage.
Thus far, only Musk’s company SpaceX has managed that accomplishment.
Space Race
Rival firms of billionaires Musk and Bezos are engaged in a private sector space competition that recently escalated, as the space agency opened up proposals for its lunar exploration program, complaining that one company was lagging behind.
Donald Trump’s second term has seen the administration push NASA to speed up its progress to launch astronauts to the Moon in competition against the Asian nation.
Increased competition between the two firms could “give us more choices with regard to liftoff.”
“More launches means greater innovation in orbit,” a former NASA chief technologist stated. “It can’t be a bad thing to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”
