The aerospace company, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was forced to delay the eagerly awaited liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday due to adverse weather conditions at the Florida launch site.
Mission Postponement Causes
Rainfall and a ground system issue caused initial delays, then came cumulus cloud cover as the narrow time frame for launch closed, forcing managers to push back the vehicle's upcoming flight.
Rivalry between Bezos' firm and Musk's space company has been intensifying in the past few months.
Rescheduled Attempt
To relieve traffic in the skies amid the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is limiting commercial rocket liftoffs starting the beginning of the week.
Following the cancellation of the launch, Blue Origin said on Sunday evening that, working alongside the regulatory body, it was aiming for another attempt as early as Wednesday within a window of afternoon hours EST.
Mission Objectives
When it eventually launches, the 98-meter tall launch vehicle will carry the US space agency's two Mars-bound probes to Mars, to study the Martian atmospheric past with the eventual hope of sending people there.
Blue Origin’s launch will also act as a key test of its ability to perform booster recovery, which would prove a technical breakthrough for the firm if successful.
Previous Flight
The rocket's first launch in January was marked as a achievement, as its payload achieved orbit and completed tests.
But its first-stage booster, which was meant to be recoverable, did not stick its touchdown on a platform in the Atlantic, and instead was lost during the return phase.
Landing Attempts
For this new mission the launch provider will make another attempt to land the first stage.
Until now, only Musk’s company SpaceX has managed that accomplishment.
Industry Competition
Rival firms of tycoons Musk and Bezos are engaged in a private sector space competition that has grown more intense lately, as NASA opened up bids for its lunar exploration program, complaining that one company was falling behind schedule.
The current administration has seen the administration push NASA to speed up its progress to send a crewed mission to the Moon amid a race with the Asian nation.
More rivalry between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “give us more choices with regard to launch.”
“Additional missions means more ideas in orbit,” a former NASA chief technologist stated. “It isn't a bad thing to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”
