Blue Origin, owned by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, had to delay the eagerly awaited launch of its New Glenn rocket on the weekend due to unfavorable weather factors at the Florida launch site.
Launch Delay Reasons
Precipitation and a technical problem on the ground led to initial delays, followed by thick clouds as the 88-minute launch window closed, forcing managers to reschedule the rocket’s planned second mission.
Competition between Bezos' firm and Musk's space company has been heating up in recent months.
New Launch Window
To ease airspace congestion during the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is restricting private space launches from Monday.
Following the cancellation of the mission, Blue Origin announced late Sunday that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was targeting a new try as soon as Wednesday within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm Eastern Standard time.
Mission Objectives
When it eventually launches, the 322-foot tall launch vehicle will carry NASA’s Escapade twin spacecraft to the Red Planet, in an effort to examine the planet’s climate history with the long-term goal of sending people there.
Blue Origin’s launch will also act as a crucial trial of whether it can achieve booster recovery, which would prove a technical breakthrough for the company if accomplished.
Earlier Mission
New Glenn’s inaugural flight in January was marked as a achievement, as its payload achieved orbit and successfully performed tests.
But its first-stage booster, which was designed as recoverable, did not stick its landing on a ocean-based target in the Atlantic, and ended up destroyed during descent.
Landing Attempts
For this new mission Blue Origin will make another attempt to recover the booster stage.
Until now, only Musk’s company SpaceX has achieved that feat.
Space Race
The competing companies of billionaires Bezos and Musk are locked in a private sector space competition that has grown more intense lately, as the space agency opened up bids for its lunar exploration program, complaining that SpaceX was lagging behind.
Donald Trump’s second term has involved the government pile pressure on the agency to speed up its timeline to launch astronauts to the lunar surface amid a race with China.
More rivalry between the two firms could “give us more choices with regard to liftoff.”
“Additional missions means more ideas in orbit,” a former NASA chief technologist said. “It can’t be a bad thing to have the competitor, even trailing behind.”
