The aerospace company, owned by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, was forced to delay the highly anticipated liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on the weekend because of adverse weather conditions at the Florida launch site.
Launch Delay Causes
Precipitation and a technical problem on the ground caused initial delays, followed by thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch closed, forcing mission controllers to reschedule the vehicle's upcoming flight.
Rivalry between Bezos' firm and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been heating up in recent months.
Rescheduled Attempt
To ease airspace congestion amid the US federal government shutdown, the aviation regulator is limiting commercial rocket liftoffs starting Monday.
Following the cancellation of the launch, Blue Origin said late Sunday that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was targeting a new try as early as midweek within a window of afternoon hours Eastern Standard time.
Launch Goals
Upon successful liftoff, the 98-meter New Glenn rocket will carry 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.
Blue Origin’s launch will also serve as a key test of its ability to perform reusable rocket landing, which would represent a technical breakthrough for the company if accomplished.
Previous Flight
The rocket's first launch in January was marked as a achievement, as its cargo achieved orbit and successfully performed tests.
But its main rocket section, which was designed as reusable, failed to make its landing on a platform in the ocean, and instead was lost during descent.
Landing Attempts
In its second effort Blue Origin will try once more to recover the first stage.
Thus far, only SpaceX has achieved that accomplishment.
Space Race
The competing companies of tycoons Bezos and Musk are engaged in a private sector space competition that recently escalated, as NASA opened up bids for its planned moon mission, complaining that SpaceX was lagging behind.
Donald Trump’s second term has seen the government pile pressure on the agency to accelerate its timeline to launch astronauts to the lunar surface in competition against China.
Increased competition between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “give us more choices with regard to liftoff.”
“More launches means greater innovation in orbit,” a former NASA chief technologist said. “It can’t be a bad thing to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”
