Blue Origin, owned by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, was forced to delay the highly anticipated liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on the weekend due to adverse meteorological conditions at Cape Canaveral.
Launch Delay Causes
Rainfall and a technical problem on the ground led to initial delays, followed by cumulus cloud cover as the 88-minute launch window closed, leaving managers to reschedule the rocket’s planned second mission.
Competition between Bezos' firm and Musk's space company has been intensifying in recent months.
New Launch Window
To relieve traffic in the skies amid the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs starting the beginning of the week.
Following the cancellation of the launch, the company announced on Sunday evening that, working alongside the regulatory body, it was targeting another attempt as soon as midweek within a time slot of afternoon hours Eastern Standard time.
Launch Goals
Upon successful liftoff, 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 Martian atmospheric past with the eventual hope of human exploration.
Blue Origin’s launch will also serve as a key test of whether it can achieve booster recovery, which would prove a major advancement for the company if accomplished.
Previous Flight
New Glenn’s inaugural flight in January was considered a achievement, as its payload achieved orbit and completed experiments.
But its main rocket section, which was designed as reusable, did not stick its touchdown on a platform in the Atlantic, and ended up destroyed during descent.
Recovery Efforts
In its second effort the launch provider will try once more to land the first stage.
Thus far, only SpaceX has achieved that accomplishment.
Space Race
Rival firms 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, complaining that one company was falling behind schedule.
The current administration has involved the administration push the agency to speed up its progress to send a crewed mission to the Moon in competition against China.
More rivalry between the two firms could “give us more choices with regard to launch.”
“More launches means more ideas in orbit,” a former NASA chief technologist said. “It isn't a negative to have the competitor, even trailing behind.”
