Blue Origin, owned by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, was forced to delay the eagerly awaited launch of its powerful launch vehicle on Sunday because of unfavorable meteorological factors at Cape Canaveral.
Launch Delay Causes
Rainfall and a ground system issue caused initial delays, then came cumulus cloud cover as the 88-minute launch window closed, leaving managers to reschedule the rocket’s planned second mission.
Competition between Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been intensifying in the past few months.
New Launch Window
To ease traffic in the skies amid the government funding gap, the Federal Aviation Administration is restricting private space launches starting the beginning of the week.
After scrubbing the mission, the company said late Sunday that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was aiming for another attempt as soon as Wednesday within a window of 2.50pm to 4.17pm Eastern Standard time.
Mission Objectives
When it eventually launches, the 98-meter New Glenn rocket will carry NASA’s Escapade twin spacecraft to Mars, in an effort to study the planet’s climate history with the eventual hope of human exploration.
Blue Origin’s launch will also act as a key test of its ability to perform reusable rocket landing, which would prove a major advancement for the firm if successful.
Earlier Mission
The rocket's first launch in January was considered a success, as its payload reached space and completed experiments.
But its first-stage booster, which was designed as recoverable, failed to make its touchdown on a platform in the ocean, and ended up destroyed during the return phase.
Recovery Efforts
For this new mission Blue Origin will make another attempt to recover the booster stage.
Until now, only Musk’s company SpaceX has managed that feat.
Industry Competition
The competing companies of tycoons Bezos and Musk are engaged in a commercial space race that has grown more intense lately, as the space agency opened up bids for its planned moon mission, complaining that SpaceX was falling behind schedule.
The current administration has involved the administration push NASA to speed up its timeline to send a crewed mission to the lunar surface in competition against China.
More rivalry between the two firms could “expand our options with regard to launch.”
“Additional missions means greater innovation in space,” an ex-agency official said. “It can’t be a negative to have Blue Origin, even not in the lead.”
