Blue Origin, owned by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the eagerly awaited launch of its powerful launch vehicle on the weekend because of adverse meteorological factors at the Florida launch site.
Launch Delay Causes
Precipitation and a technical problem on the ground led to initial delays, then came thick clouds as the 88-minute launch window ended, forcing managers to reschedule the vehicle's upcoming flight.
Competition between Bezos' firm and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been heating up in the past few months.
New Launch Window
To ease traffic in the skies amid the US federal government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration is restricting private space launches from Monday.
After scrubbing the mission, Blue Origin said on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the FAA, it was targeting another attempt 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 the US space agency's Escapade twin spacecraft to Mars, to study the Martian atmospheric past with the long-term goal of human exploration.
The mission will also serve as a crucial trial of whether it can achieve reusable rocket landing, which would represent a technical breakthrough for the firm if successful.
Previous Flight
New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was marked as a achievement, as its payload achieved orbit and successfully performed experiments.
But its first-stage booster, which was designed as recoverable, failed to make its landing on a platform in the Atlantic, and instead was lost during the return phase.
Recovery Efforts
In its second effort Blue Origin will make another attempt to land the booster stage.
Until now, only Musk’s company SpaceX has achieved that feat.
Industry Competition
Rival firms of billionaires Bezos and Musk are locked in a commercial space race that recently escalated, as NASA began accepting proposals for its lunar exploration program, noting that SpaceX was falling behind schedule.
The current administration has seen the government pile pressure on NASA to speed up its progress to launch astronauts to the lunar surface amid a race with the Asian nation.
More rivalry between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “expand our options with regard to launch.”
“More launches means more ideas in space,” a former NASA chief technologist said. “It isn't a negative to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”
