The aerospace company, founded by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, was forced to postpone the eagerly awaited launch of its New Glenn rocket on the weekend because of unfavorable weather factors at Cape Canaveral.
Launch Delay Reasons
Rainfall and a ground system issue led to early setbacks, followed by thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch closed, forcing mission controllers to push back the rocket’s planned second mission.
Rivalry between Blue Origin and Musk's space company has been heating up in recent months.
Rescheduled Attempt
To ease traffic in the skies during the US federal government shutdown, the aviation regulator is limiting commercial rocket liftoffs from the beginning of the week.
After scrubbing the mission, the company announced late Sunday that, working alongside the regulatory body, it was aiming for a new try as soon as midweek within a time slot of afternoon hours Eastern Standard time.
Launch Goals
Upon successful liftoff, the 98-meter New Glenn rocket will transport the US space agency's two Mars-bound probes to the Red Planet, in an effort to study the Martian atmospheric past with the long-term goal of sending people there.
Blue Origin’s launch will also serve as a crucial trial of its ability to perform reusable rocket landing, which would prove a technical breakthrough for the company if successful.
Earlier Mission
The rocket's first launch in January was marked as a achievement, as its cargo achieved orbit and successfully performed experiments.
But its main rocket section, which was meant to be recoverable, did not stick its landing on a platform in the Atlantic, and ended up destroyed during the return phase.
Landing Attempts
For this new mission the launch provider will try once more to recover the booster stage.
Until now, only SpaceX has achieved that accomplishment.
Space Race
Rival firms of billionaires Bezos and Musk are engaged in a private sector space competition that recently escalated, as the space agency opened up bids for its planned moon mission, complaining that one company was falling behind schedule.
The current administration has involved the government push NASA to accelerate its timeline to send a crewed mission to the lunar surface in competition against China.
More rivalry between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “expand our options with regard to liftoff.”
“Additional missions means more ideas in orbit,” an ex-agency official stated. “It isn't a bad thing to have Blue Origin, even not in the lead.”
