The aerospace company, owned by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, was forced to delay the highly anticipated liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday due to adverse meteorological factors at the Florida launch site.
Mission Postponement Causes
Rainfall and a technical problem on the ground led to early setbacks, then came thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch closed, forcing managers to push back the rocket’s planned second mission.
Rivalry between Blue Origin and Musk's space company has been intensifying in the past few months.
New Launch Window
To relieve traffic in the skies amid the US federal government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting private space launches starting the beginning of the week.
After scrubbing the mission, Blue Origin announced on Sunday evening that, working alongside the regulatory body, it was aiming for another attempt as early as midweek within a window of afternoon hours Eastern Standard time.
Mission Objectives
When it eventually launches, the 98-meter New Glenn rocket will carry the US space agency's Escapade twin spacecraft to Mars, to examine the Martian atmospheric past with the eventual hope of sending people there.
The mission will also act as a key test of its ability to perform booster recovery, which would prove a major advancement for the firm if successful.
Previous Flight
The rocket's first launch in the start of the year was considered a achievement, as its payload reached space and successfully performed experiments.
But its main rocket section, which was meant to be recoverable, did not stick its touchdown on a ocean-based target in the ocean, and ended up destroyed during descent.
Landing Attempts
For this new mission Blue Origin will try once more to recover the booster stage.
Thus far, only SpaceX has managed that feat.
Space Race
Rival firms of billionaires Musk and Bezos are engaged in a commercial space race that recently escalated, as NASA opened up bids for its lunar exploration program, complaining that SpaceX was lagging behind.
The current administration has seen the government push the agency to accelerate its progress to send a crewed mission 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 more ideas in space,” a former NASA chief technologist said. “It can’t be a negative to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”
