Blue Origin, founded by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the eagerly awaited launch of its powerful launch vehicle on Sunday due to adverse meteorological conditions at Cape Canaveral.
Mission Postponement Reasons
Rainfall and a technical problem on the ground caused initial delays, followed by thick clouds as the 88-minute launch window ended, forcing mission controllers to reschedule the rocket’s planned second mission.
Rivalry between Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been heating up in recent months.
Rescheduled Attempt
To ease traffic in the skies during the US federal government shutdown, the aviation regulator is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs from Monday.
Following the cancellation of the mission, Blue Origin announced on Sunday evening that, working alongside the regulatory body, it was targeting a new try as early as midweek within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm Eastern Standard time.
Launch Goals
Upon successful liftoff, the 322-foot New Glenn rocket will transport NASA’s Escapade twin spacecraft to Mars, in an effort to examine the Martian atmospheric past with the eventual hope of sending people there.
Blue Origin’s launch will also serve as a crucial trial of its ability to perform booster recovery, which would prove a major advancement for the company if successful.
Earlier Mission
The rocket's first launch in the start of the year was marked as a achievement, as its cargo reached space and successfully performed tests.
But its first-stage booster, which was meant to be recoverable, failed to make its touchdown on a ocean-based target in the Atlantic, and ended up destroyed during descent.
Recovery Efforts
In its second effort the launch provider will make another attempt to recover the first stage.
Until now, only Musk’s company SpaceX has managed that accomplishment.
Space Race
The competing companies of tycoons Musk and Bezos are locked in a private sector space competition that recently escalated, as NASA began accepting proposals for its planned moon mission, noting that SpaceX was lagging behind.
The current administration has seen the government push the agency to accelerate its timeline to launch astronauts to the Moon amid a race with China.
More rivalry between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “give us more choices with regard to liftoff.”
“Additional missions means more ideas in space,” a former NASA chief technologist stated. “It can’t be a bad thing to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”
