Blue Origin, founded by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, was forced to postpone the highly anticipated liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on the weekend because of unfavorable weather factors at Cape Canaveral.
Launch Delay Causes
Rainfall and a ground system issue led to initial delays, then came thick clouds as the 88-minute launch window closed, forcing mission controllers to push back the rocket’s planned second mission.
Rivalry between Bezos' firm and Musk's space company has been heating up in the past few months.
New Launch Window
To relieve airspace congestion during the government funding gap, the Federal Aviation Administration is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs from Monday.
After scrubbing the launch, Blue Origin announced late Sunday that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was aiming for another attempt as soon as midweek within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST.
Mission Objectives
When it eventually launches, the 322-foot tall launch vehicle will carry NASA’s Escapade twin spacecraft to the Red Planet, to study the planet’s climate history with the long-term goal of human exploration.
Blue Origin’s launch will also act as a key test of its ability to perform booster recovery, which would prove a major advancement for the company if successful.
Earlier Mission
New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was considered a achievement, as its cargo achieved orbit and successfully performed tests.
But its main rocket section, which was meant to be reusable, failed to make its touchdown on a ocean-based target in the ocean, and ended up destroyed during descent.
Landing Attempts
For this new mission Blue Origin will make another attempt to recover the first stage.
Thus far, only SpaceX has managed that accomplishment.
Space Race
Rival firms of billionaires Bezos and Musk are locked in a private sector space competition that recently escalated, as the space agency opened up bids for its planned moon mission, complaining that one company was lagging behind.
The current administration has seen the administration push the agency to accelerate its progress to launch astronauts to the Moon amid a race with the Asian nation.
More rivalry between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “give us more choices with regard to liftoff.”
“More launches means greater innovation in orbit,” a former NASA chief technologist stated. “It isn't a bad thing to have Blue Origin, even not in the lead.”
