Blue Origin, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to delay the eagerly awaited launch of its New Glenn rocket on the weekend because of adverse meteorological conditions at Cape Canaveral.
Launch Delay Reasons
Rainfall and a technical problem on the ground caused early setbacks, followed by cumulus cloud cover as the narrow time frame for launch closed, forcing mission controllers to push back the vehicle's upcoming flight.
Rivalry between Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been heating up in recent months.
New Launch Window
To ease airspace congestion amid the government funding gap, the Federal Aviation Administration is restricting private space launches starting Monday.
Following the cancellation of the mission, Blue Origin said on Sunday evening that, working alongside the FAA, it was aiming for a new try as early as midweek within a window of afternoon hours EST.
Launch Goals
When it eventually launches, the 98-meter tall launch vehicle will carry the US space agency's Escapade twin spacecraft to the Red Planet, in an effort to examine the planet’s climate history with the eventual hope of human exploration.
The mission will also act as a crucial trial of its ability to perform reusable rocket landing, which would prove a technical breakthrough for the company if accomplished.
Previous Flight
New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was considered a success, as its cargo achieved orbit and successfully performed tests.
But its first-stage booster, which was designed as recoverable, did not stick its landing on a platform in the ocean, and ended up destroyed during descent.
Landing Attempts
For this new mission the launch provider will make another attempt to recover the first stage.
Thus far, only Musk’s company SpaceX has managed that accomplishment.
Space Race
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 began accepting proposals for its planned moon mission, noting that one company was falling behind schedule.
The current administration has seen the government pile pressure on NASA to speed up its progress to launch astronauts 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 more ideas in orbit,” an ex-agency official said. “It can’t be a bad thing to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”
