Blue Origin, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the eagerly awaited liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on the weekend because of adverse weather conditions at the Florida launch site.
Mission Postponement Causes
Precipitation and a ground system issue caused initial delays, followed by cumulus cloud cover as the 88-minute launch window closed, leaving mission controllers to push back the vehicle's upcoming flight.
Competition between Bezos' firm and Musk's space company has been heating up in recent months.
Rescheduled Attempt
To relieve traffic in the skies during the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is limiting commercial rocket liftoffs from the beginning of the week.
Following the cancellation of the mission, the company announced on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was targeting another attempt as early as Wednesday within a window of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST.
Launch Goals
When it eventually launches, the 322-foot New Glenn rocket will transport the US space agency's Escapade twin spacecraft to the Red Planet, to examine the Martian atmospheric past with the eventual hope of sending people there.
Blue Origin’s launch will also act as a key test of its ability to perform reusable rocket landing, 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 marked as a achievement, as its payload reached space and successfully performed tests.
But its first-stage booster, which was meant to be reusable, failed to make its touchdown on a platform in the ocean, and ended up destroyed during the return phase.
Recovery Efforts
In its second effort the launch provider will try once more to recover the booster stage.
Thus far, only Musk’s company SpaceX has achieved that accomplishment.
Space Race
The competing companies of billionaires Bezos and Musk are engaged in a private sector space competition that has grown more intense lately, as the space agency began accepting bids for its planned moon mission, noting that SpaceX was lagging behind.
The current administration has seen the government push the agency to speed up its progress to launch astronauts to the Moon amid a race with the Asian nation.
Increased competition between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “give us more choices with regard to launch.”
“More launches means greater innovation in space,” an ex-agency official stated. “It isn't a negative to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”
