Blue Origin, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was forced to delay the eagerly awaited launch of its powerful launch vehicle on Sunday because of adverse weather factors at Cape Canaveral.
Mission Postponement Reasons
Precipitation and a technical problem on the ground caused initial delays, followed by thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch closed, leaving managers to push back the vehicle's upcoming flight.
Competition between Blue Origin and Musk's space company has been intensifying in recent months.
New Launch Window
To ease airspace congestion amid the US federal government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs from the beginning of the week.
After scrubbing the mission, the company 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 afternoon hours Eastern Standard time.
Launch Goals
When it eventually launches, the 98-meter tall launch vehicle will transport NASA’s Escapade twin spacecraft to Mars, to examine the Martian atmospheric past with the long-term goal of human exploration.
The mission will also serve as a key test of its ability to perform reusable rocket landing, which would represent a major advancement for the firm if successful.
Previous Flight
New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was marked as a success, as its payload reached space and successfully performed experiments.
But its first-stage booster, which was designed as reusable, did not stick its touchdown on a platform in the ocean, and ended up destroyed during the return phase.
Landing Attempts
In its second effort the launch provider will try once more to recover the booster stage.
Thus far, only SpaceX has managed that accomplishment.
Industry Competition
Rival firms of tycoons Bezos and Musk are locked in a commercial space race that recently escalated, as NASA opened up bids for its planned moon mission, noting that SpaceX was lagging behind.
The current administration has seen the government pile pressure on NASA to accelerate its progress to send a crewed mission to the Moon amid a race with the Asian nation.
Increased competition between the two firms could “expand our options with regard to liftoff.”
“Additional missions means greater innovation in orbit,” a former NASA chief technologist stated. “It isn't a negative to have Blue Origin, even not in the lead.”
