Blue Origin, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was forced to delay the eagerly awaited liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday because of adverse weather factors at Cape Canaveral.
Launch Delay Causes
Precipitation and a technical problem on the ground caused early setbacks, then came thick clouds as the 88-minute launch window ended, forcing managers to reschedule the vehicle's upcoming flight.
Rivalry between Blue Origin and Musk's space company has been heating up in recent months.
Rescheduled Attempt
To relieve traffic in the skies amid the US federal government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration is restricting private space launches starting Monday.
After scrubbing the launch, the company announced late Sunday that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was aiming for a new try as early as midweek within a window of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST.
Mission Objectives
When it eventually launches, the 98-meter tall launch vehicle will transport 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 act as a key test of its ability to perform reusable rocket landing, which would represent a major advancement for the firm if accomplished.
Earlier Mission
New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was marked as a success, as its payload achieved orbit and successfully performed tests.
But its main rocket section, which was meant to be reusable, failed to make its landing on a ocean-based target in the Atlantic, and instead was lost during the return phase.
Landing Attempts
In its second effort the launch provider will try once more to recover the booster stage.
Until now, only SpaceX has achieved that feat.
Industry Competition
Rival firms of tycoons Bezos and Musk are engaged in a commercial space race that recently escalated, as the space agency opened up bids for its planned moon mission, noting that one company was lagging behind.
Donald Trump’s second term has seen the government push NASA to accelerate its progress to send a crewed mission to the Moon amid a race with the Asian nation.
Increased competition between the two firms could “give us more choices with regard to liftoff.”
“Additional missions means more ideas in orbit,” an ex-agency official stated. “It can’t be a bad thing to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”
