The aerospace company, owned by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, was forced to postpone the highly anticipated liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on the weekend because of unfavorable weather conditions at Cape Canaveral.
Mission Postponement Reasons
Rainfall and a technical problem on the ground led to initial delays, followed by thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch closed, forcing managers to reschedule the rocket’s planned second mission.
Rivalry between Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been heating up in recent months.
New Launch Window
To ease traffic in the skies during the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs starting Monday.
Following the cancellation of the mission, the company announced late Sunday that, working alongside the FAA, it was aiming for another attempt as soon as Wednesday within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm Eastern Standard time.
Mission Objectives
When it eventually launches, the 98-meter New Glenn rocket will carry NASA’s Escapade twin spacecraft to the Red Planet, to examine the planet’s climate history with the eventual hope of sending people there.
The mission will also act as a crucial trial of whether it can achieve booster recovery, which would prove a major advancement for the company if successful.
Earlier Mission
New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was considered a success, as its cargo reached space and successfully performed tests.
But its main rocket section, which was meant to be recoverable, failed to make its landing on a platform in the ocean, and ended up destroyed during descent.
Landing Attempts
In its second effort the launch provider will make another attempt to recover the booster stage.
Thus far, only SpaceX has achieved that accomplishment.
Industry Competition
Rival firms of tycoons Musk and Bezos are engaged in a private sector space competition that recently escalated, as NASA opened up bids for its planned moon mission, noting that one company was lagging behind.
Donald Trump’s second term has seen the administration pile pressure on the agency to accelerate its timeline to launch astronauts to the Moon amid a race with the Asian nation.
More rivalry between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “give us more choices with regard to launch.”
“Additional missions means more ideas in orbit,” a former NASA chief technologist said. “It isn't a negative to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”
