The aerospace company, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was forced to delay the eagerly awaited liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on the weekend because of adverse weather factors at Cape Canaveral.
Launch Delay Reasons
Precipitation and a technical problem on the ground caused initial delays, followed by cumulus cloud cover as the 88-minute launch window ended, forcing mission controllers to push back the vehicle's upcoming flight.
Competition between Blue Origin and Musk's space company has been heating up in the past few months.
New Launch Window
To relieve airspace congestion during the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is limiting commercial rocket liftoffs from Monday.
After scrubbing the mission, the company said late Sunday that, in coordination with the FAA, it was targeting a new try as early as midweek within a window of 2.50pm to 4.17pm Eastern Standard time.
Launch Goals
Upon successful liftoff, the 322-foot New Glenn rocket will transport NASA’s Escapade twin spacecraft to the Red Planet, to study the Martian atmospheric past with the eventual hope of human exploration.
The mission will also serve as a crucial trial of whether it can achieve booster recovery, which would represent a major advancement for the firm if accomplished.
Previous Flight
The rocket's first launch in the start of the year was considered a achievement, as its payload achieved orbit and successfully performed experiments.
But its first-stage booster, which was meant to be reusable, did not stick its touchdown on a ocean-based target in the Atlantic, and instead was lost 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 achieved that accomplishment.
Industry Competition
The competing companies of tycoons Bezos and Musk are engaged in a commercial space race that has grown more intense lately, as NASA began accepting bids for its lunar exploration program, complaining that one company was falling behind schedule.
The current administration has seen the government push the agency to accelerate its timeline to launch astronauts to the lunar surface amid a race with China.
Increased competition between the two firms could “expand our options with regard to launch.”
“Additional missions means greater innovation in orbit,” an ex-agency official stated. “It can’t be a negative to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”
