The aerospace company, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to delay the highly anticipated launch of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday due to adverse weather factors at the Florida launch site.
Mission Postponement Reasons
Precipitation and a technical problem on the ground caused early setbacks, then came thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch ended, forcing managers to reschedule the vehicle's upcoming flight.
Competition between Bezos' firm and Musk's space company has been intensifying in recent months.
New Launch Window
To ease airspace congestion amid the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs starting Monday.
Following the cancellation of the launch, Blue Origin said on Sunday evening that, working alongside the FAA, it was aiming for a new try as early as midweek within a time slot of afternoon hours Eastern Standard time.
Mission Objectives
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 long-term goal of human exploration.
The mission will also serve as a crucial trial of whether it can achieve booster recovery, which would represent a technical breakthrough for the firm if accomplished.
Previous Flight
New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was considered a achievement, as its payload reached space and successfully performed tests.
But its first-stage booster, which was meant to be reusable, did not stick its landing on a ocean-based target in the Atlantic, and ended up destroyed during the return phase.
Landing Attempts
For this new mission Blue Origin will make another attempt to land the first stage.
Until now, only SpaceX has managed that accomplishment.
Space Race
Rival firms of billionaires Musk and Bezos are engaged in a commercial space race that recently escalated, as the space agency began accepting bids for its lunar exploration program, complaining that SpaceX was falling behind schedule.
Donald Trump’s second term has seen the administration push the agency to accelerate its progress to send a crewed mission to the Moon in competition against the Asian nation.
More rivalry between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “give us more choices with regard to liftoff.”
“More launches means greater innovation in space,” a former NASA chief technologist said. “It can’t be a negative to have the competitor, even trailing behind.”
