The aerospace company, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to delay the highly anticipated liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on the weekend because of unfavorable weather conditions at Cape Canaveral.
Launch Delay Reasons
Rainfall and a technical problem on the ground led to initial delays, followed by thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch ended, forcing mission controllers to reschedule the vehicle's upcoming flight.
Rivalry between Blue Origin and Musk's space company has been heating up in recent months.
New Launch Window
To ease airspace congestion during the government funding gap, the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting commercial rocket liftoffs starting Monday.
Following the cancellation of the launch, Blue Origin announced on Sunday evening that, working alongside the FAA, it was targeting another attempt as soon as Wednesday within a time slot of afternoon hours EST.
Mission Objectives
When it eventually launches, the 98-meter New Glenn rocket will carry the US space agency's two Mars-bound probes to the Red Planet, to study the planet’s climate history with the long-term goal of sending people there.
The mission will also act as a crucial trial of whether it can achieve booster recovery, which would represent a technical breakthrough for the company if successful.
Previous Flight
New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was considered a success, as its payload reached space and successfully performed tests.
But its first-stage booster, which was designed as recoverable, failed to make its touchdown on a ocean-based target in the ocean, and instead was lost during the return phase.
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
Rival firms of tycoons Musk and Bezos are locked in a private sector space competition that recently escalated, as NASA opened up bids for its lunar exploration program, complaining that one company was falling behind schedule.
Donald Trump’s second term has seen the administration push the agency to speed up its timeline to launch astronauts to the lunar surface in competition against China.
More rivalry between the two firms could “expand our options with regard to liftoff.”
“Additional missions means more ideas in orbit,” an ex-agency official said. “It can’t be a bad thing to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”
