The aerospace company, owned by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, had to delay the highly anticipated launch of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday because of unfavorable meteorological conditions at the Florida launch site.
Mission Postponement Causes
Rainfall and a ground system issue led to initial delays, then came thick clouds as the 88-minute launch window closed, leaving mission controllers to reschedule the rocket’s planned second mission.
Competition between Bezos' firm and Musk's space company has been intensifying in the past few months.
New Launch Window
To relieve traffic in the skies during the US federal government shutdown, the aviation regulator is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs starting Monday.
After scrubbing the launch, the company announced late Sunday that, in coordination with the FAA, it was aiming for another attempt as early as midweek within a window of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST.
Mission Objectives
When it eventually launches, the 322-foot New Glenn rocket will carry the US space agency's Escapade twin spacecraft to the Red Planet, to examine the Martian atmospheric past with the long-term goal of human exploration.
The mission will also act as a key test of its ability to perform booster recovery, which would prove a technical breakthrough for the firm if accomplished.
Earlier Mission
The rocket's first launch in the start of the year was marked as a achievement, as its payload achieved orbit and completed experiments.
But its first-stage booster, which was designed as reusable, failed to make its landing on a platform in the ocean, and instead was lost during descent.
Recovery Efforts
In its second effort Blue Origin will try once more to recover the booster stage.
Until now, only SpaceX has achieved that feat.
Space Race
Rival firms of billionaires Musk and Bezos are locked in a private sector space competition that has grown more intense lately, as the space agency began accepting bids for its lunar exploration program, complaining that SpaceX was lagging behind.
The current administration has involved the government pile pressure on the agency to accelerate its progress to launch astronauts to the Moon amid a race with China.
Increased competition 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 can’t be a bad thing to have the competitor, even trailing behind.”
