Blue Origin, founded by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, had to delay the highly anticipated liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday because of adverse meteorological conditions at Cape Canaveral.
Mission Postponement Causes
Rainfall and a ground system issue caused early setbacks, then came thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch ended, forcing mission controllers to push back the rocket’s planned second mission.
Competition between Blue Origin and Musk's space company has been intensifying in the past few months.
Rescheduled Attempt
To ease airspace congestion during the US federal government shutdown, the aviation regulator is limiting commercial rocket liftoffs starting the beginning of the week.
After scrubbing the launch, Blue Origin announced late Sunday that, working alongside the regulatory body, it was aiming for another attempt as early as Wednesday within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST.
Launch Goals
Upon successful liftoff, the 322-foot tall launch vehicle will transport the US space agency's two Mars-bound probes to the Red Planet, to examine the Martian atmospheric past with the eventual hope of human exploration.
The mission will also act as a key test of whether it can achieve booster recovery, which would represent a major advancement for the company if accomplished.
Earlier Mission
The rocket's first launch in the start of the year was considered a success, as its payload reached space and successfully performed experiments.
But its first-stage booster, which was meant to be reusable, did not stick its landing on a platform in the Atlantic, and instead was lost during the return phase.
Recovery Efforts
For this new mission Blue Origin will try once more to land the first stage.
Until now, only SpaceX has managed that accomplishment.
Space Race
Rival firms of billionaires Bezos and Musk are engaged in a private sector space competition that has grown more intense lately, as NASA began accepting proposals for its lunar exploration program, complaining that one company was lagging behind.
Donald Trump’s second term has involved the administration pile pressure on NASA to accelerate its progress to launch astronauts to the lunar surface amid a race with China.
More rivalry between the two firms 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 not in the lead.”
