The aerospace company, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to delay the highly anticipated liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on Sunday because of adverse meteorological conditions at the Florida launch site.
Mission Postponement Causes
Precipitation and a technical problem on the ground caused initial delays, then came thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch closed, forcing managers to push back the vehicle's upcoming flight.
Competition between Blue Origin and Musk's space company has been intensifying in the past few months.
New Launch Window
To relieve airspace congestion during the government funding gap, the Federal Aviation Administration is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs starting the beginning of the week.
Following the cancellation of the launch, the company announced on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the FAA, it was targeting another attempt as soon as midweek within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm Eastern Standard time.
Launch Goals
When it eventually launches, the 322-foot New Glenn rocket will transport NASA’s two Mars-bound probes to Mars, to study the Martian atmospheric past with the eventual hope of human exploration.
The mission will also serve as a crucial trial of its ability to perform booster recovery, which would represent a major advancement for the firm if successful.
Previous Flight
New Glenn’s inaugural flight in January was considered a achievement, as its cargo reached space and successfully performed experiments.
But its main rocket section, which was meant to be recoverable, did not stick its landing on a ocean-based target in the ocean, and instead was lost during the return phase.
Landing Attempts
For this new mission the launch provider will try once more to recover the booster stage.
Thus far, only Musk’s company SpaceX has achieved that feat.
Space Race
The competing companies of billionaires Musk and Bezos are locked in a private sector space competition that has grown more intense lately, as the space agency began accepting bids for its planned moon mission, noting that one company was falling behind schedule.
The current administration has involved the administration pile pressure on NASA to speed up its progress to launch astronauts to the Moon amid a race with China.
More rivalry between the two firms could “give us more choices with regard to launch.”
“More launches means more ideas in orbit,” an ex-agency official said. “It isn't a negative to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”
