Blue Origin, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to delay the eagerly awaited launch of its New Glenn rocket on the weekend due to adverse weather factors at the Florida launch site.
Launch Delay Causes
Rainfall and a ground system issue led to early setbacks, then came cumulus cloud cover as the narrow time frame for launch closed, forcing mission controllers 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.
Rescheduled Attempt
To relieve traffic in the skies amid the US federal government shutdown, the aviation regulator is limiting private space launches starting the beginning of the week.
After scrubbing the launch, Blue Origin said late Sunday that, in coordination with the FAA, it was aiming for a new try as early as midweek within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm Eastern Standard time.
Launch Goals
When it eventually launches, the 322-foot tall launch vehicle will carry NASA’s Escapade twin spacecraft to Mars, in an effort to study the Martian atmospheric past with the eventual hope of human exploration.
Blue Origin’s launch will also act as a crucial trial of its ability to perform reusable rocket landing, which would prove a major advancement for the company if successful.
Previous Flight
New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was considered a achievement, as its payload reached space and completed tests.
But its first-stage booster, which was meant to be recoverable, failed to make its landing on a ocean-based target in the Atlantic, and instead was lost during descent.
Landing Attempts
In its second effort the launch provider will make another attempt to recover the booster stage.
Until now, only SpaceX has managed that accomplishment.
Industry Competition
The competing companies of billionaires Musk and Bezos are locked in a private sector space competition that recently escalated, as NASA began accepting proposals for its planned moon mission, noting that SpaceX was falling behind schedule.
Donald Trump’s second term has seen the government pile pressure on NASA to accelerate its progress to send a crewed mission to the lunar surface amid a race with the Asian nation.
Increased competition between the two firms could “give us more choices with regard to launch.”
“More launches means more ideas in space,” an ex-agency official said. “It can’t be a bad thing to have the competitor, even trailing behind.”
