Blue Origin, founded by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the highly anticipated liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday because of adverse weather conditions at Cape Canaveral.
Launch Delay Causes
Precipitation and a ground system issue led to early setbacks, followed by thick clouds as the 88-minute launch window ended, leaving managers to push back the rocket’s planned second mission.
Rivalry between Bezos' firm and Musk's space company has been heating up in recent months.
Rescheduled Attempt
To relieve airspace congestion amid the government funding gap, the Federal Aviation Administration is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs starting Monday.
After scrubbing the launch, the company announced on Sunday evening that, working alongside the FAA, it was targeting another attempt as soon as Wednesday within a window of afternoon hours EST.
Mission Objectives
Upon successful liftoff, the 98-meter New Glenn rocket will transport the US space agency's Escapade twin spacecraft to Mars, to study the Martian atmospheric past with the long-term goal of human exploration.
The mission will also act as a crucial trial of its ability to perform booster recovery, which would prove a technical breakthrough for the company if successful.
Earlier Mission
New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was marked as a achievement, as its payload achieved orbit and successfully performed tests.
But its first-stage booster, which was designed as reusable, did not stick its touchdown on a platform in the Atlantic, and ended up destroyed during descent.
Landing Attempts
In its second effort the launch provider will try once more to recover the booster stage.
Until now, only SpaceX has achieved that feat.
Industry Competition
Rival firms of tycoons Musk and Bezos are engaged in a commercial space race that has grown more intense lately, as the space agency began accepting bids for its lunar exploration program, noting that one company was falling behind schedule.
The current administration has involved the administration pile pressure on the agency to speed up its timeline to launch astronauts to the Moon amid a race with the Asian nation.
Increased competition between the two firms could “expand our options with regard to launch.”
“Additional missions means greater innovation in orbit,” a former NASA chief technologist said. “It isn't a bad thing to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”
