The aerospace company, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was forced to delay the eagerly awaited liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on the weekend due to unfavorable weather factors at Cape Canaveral.
Mission Postponement Reasons
Precipitation and a ground system issue led to initial delays, then came cumulus cloud cover as the 88-minute launch window closed, forcing mission controllers to push back the vehicle's upcoming flight.
Competition between Blue Origin and Musk's space company has been heating up in the past few months.
Rescheduled Attempt
To ease airspace congestion amid the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs from Monday.
Following the cancellation of the mission, the company said late Sunday that, working alongside the regulatory body, it was targeting a new try as early as midweek within a window of 2.50pm to 4.17pm Eastern Standard time.
Launch Goals
When it eventually launches, the 98-meter tall launch vehicle will carry the US space agency's two Mars-bound probes to Mars, in an effort to examine the planet’s climate history with the eventual hope of sending people there.
The mission will also serve as a crucial trial of its ability to perform booster recovery, which would prove a major advancement for the company if accomplished.
Earlier Mission
New Glenn’s inaugural flight in January was marked as a achievement, as its payload achieved orbit and successfully performed experiments.
But its main rocket section, which was meant to be reusable, did not stick its touchdown on a ocean-based target in the Atlantic, and ended up destroyed during descent.
Landing Attempts
In its second effort Blue Origin will try once more to land the first stage.
Thus far, only Musk’s company SpaceX has achieved that feat.
Space Race
The competing companies of tycoons Bezos and Musk are locked in a commercial space race that recently escalated, as the space agency began accepting bids for its planned moon mission, complaining that one company was lagging behind.
Donald Trump’s second term has seen the government push NASA to speed up its progress to launch astronauts to the Moon in competition against the Asian nation.
Increased competition between the two firms could “expand our options with regard to launch.”
“More launches means greater innovation in orbit,” an ex-agency official said. “It isn't a negative to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”
