The aerospace company, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the highly anticipated liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday because of adverse meteorological conditions at the Florida launch site.
Mission Postponement Reasons
Rainfall and a ground system issue led to initial delays, then came cumulus cloud cover as the 88-minute launch window ended, forcing mission controllers to reschedule 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 traffic in the skies during the government funding gap, the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting commercial rocket liftoffs starting the beginning of the week.
Following the cancellation of the mission, Blue Origin said on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was aiming for another attempt as early as midweek within a window of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST.
Mission Objectives
When it eventually launches, the 322-foot tall launch vehicle will transport NASA’s Escapade twin spacecraft to the Red Planet, to study the Martian atmospheric past with the long-term goal 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 successful.
Earlier Mission
The rocket's first launch in January was considered a success, as its payload achieved orbit and completed tests.
But its main rocket section, which was designed as recoverable, failed to make its touchdown on a platform in the Atlantic, and ended up destroyed during the return phase.
Recovery Efforts
In its second effort Blue Origin will try once more to recover the booster stage.
Thus far, only Musk’s company SpaceX has managed that accomplishment.
Industry Competition
Rival firms of tycoons Musk and Bezos 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 one company was falling behind schedule.
The current administration has seen the government push the agency to speed up its progress to send a crewed mission to the Moon in competition against China.
Increased competition between the two firms could “expand our options with regard to launch.”
“Additional missions means more ideas in space,” a former NASA chief technologist said. “It can’t be a bad thing to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”
