The aerospace company, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to delay the eagerly awaited liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday because of unfavorable meteorological conditions at the Florida launch site.
Launch Delay Reasons
Rainfall and a ground system issue caused early setbacks, then came thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch closed, leaving managers to push back the rocket’s planned second mission.
Competition between Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been intensifying in the past few months.
Rescheduled Attempt
To relieve airspace congestion amid the US federal government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting private space launches from Monday.
After scrubbing the mission, the company said late Sunday that, working alongside the regulatory body, it was aiming for another attempt as soon as Wednesday within a time slot of afternoon hours EST.
Launch Goals
Upon successful liftoff, the 98-meter New Glenn rocket will transport the US space agency's two Mars-bound probes to Mars, in an effort to examine the Martian atmospheric past with the eventual hope of sending people there.
The mission will also serve as a key test of its ability to perform booster recovery, which would represent a technical breakthrough for the company if successful.
Earlier Mission
New Glenn’s inaugural flight in January was considered a achievement, as its cargo achieved orbit and completed experiments.
But its first-stage booster, which was meant to be recoverable, did not stick its touchdown on a ocean-based target in the ocean, and ended up destroyed during descent.
Recovery Efforts
In its second effort Blue Origin will try once more to recover the booster stage.
Until now, only Musk’s company SpaceX has achieved that feat.
Industry Competition
The competing companies of tycoons 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 SpaceX was falling behind schedule.
Donald Trump’s second term has involved the government pile pressure on the agency to speed up its progress to send a crewed mission to the lunar surface amid a race with China.
Increased competition between the two firms could “expand our options with regard to launch.”
“More launches means greater innovation in space,” an ex-agency official stated. “It isn't a bad thing to have the competitor, even trailing behind.”
