Blue Origin, founded by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, was forced to delay the highly anticipated launch of its powerful launch vehicle on Sunday due to unfavorable weather factors at the Florida launch site.
Launch Delay Causes
Precipitation and a ground system issue led to initial delays, then came cumulus cloud cover as the 88-minute launch window ended, forcing managers to push back the rocket’s planned second mission.
Rivalry between Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been heating up in the past few months.
New Launch Window
To ease airspace congestion amid the US federal government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting commercial rocket liftoffs starting Monday.
Following the cancellation of the launch, Blue Origin said on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was aiming for another attempt as soon as midweek within a window of afternoon hours EST.
Launch Goals
Upon successful liftoff, the 322-foot tall launch vehicle will transport the US space agency's Escapade twin spacecraft to Mars, to study the planet’s climate history with the eventual hope of sending people there.
The mission will also act as a key test of whether it can achieve reusable rocket landing, which would prove a technical breakthrough for the company if accomplished.
Previous Flight
New Glenn’s inaugural flight in January was marked as a success, as its cargo reached space and successfully performed tests.
But its main rocket section, which was meant to be recoverable, did not stick its landing on a platform in the Atlantic, and instead was lost during the return phase.
Landing Attempts
For this new mission Blue Origin will make another attempt to land the first stage.
Thus far, only Musk’s company SpaceX has achieved that accomplishment.
Space Race
Rival firms of tycoons Musk and Bezos are engaged in a private sector space competition that recently escalated, as NASA opened up proposals for its planned moon mission, noting that SpaceX was falling behind schedule.
Donald Trump’s second term has involved the administration push the agency to accelerate its progress to send a crewed mission to the Moon in competition against the Asian nation.
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 isn't a negative to have the competitor, even trailing behind.”
