The aerospace company, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was forced to postpone the eagerly awaited liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on Sunday because of adverse meteorological conditions at Cape Canaveral.
Launch Delay Causes
Precipitation 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.
Competition between Bezos' firm and Musk's space company has been heating up in recent months.
Rescheduled Attempt
To ease airspace congestion amid the US federal government shutdown, the aviation regulator is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs starting Monday.
After scrubbing the mission, the company said on Sunday evening that, working alongside the FAA, it was aiming for another attempt as early as Wednesday within a time slot of afternoon hours EST.
Launch Goals
When it eventually launches, the 322-foot New Glenn rocket will transport NASA’s Escapade twin spacecraft to Mars, to study the Martian atmospheric past with the long-term goal of sending people there.
The mission will also act as a key test 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 achievement, as its cargo achieved orbit and successfully performed experiments.
But its first-stage booster, which was designed as reusable, did not stick its touchdown on a ocean-based target in the ocean, and ended up destroyed during the return phase.
Landing Attempts
For this new mission the launch provider will try once more to recover the first stage.
Thus far, only Musk’s company SpaceX has achieved that feat.
Space Race
The competing companies of tycoons Musk and Bezos are engaged in a private sector space competition that recently escalated, as NASA began accepting bids for its lunar exploration program, noting that one company was lagging behind.
The current administration has seen the government pile pressure on NASA to speed up its progress to launch astronauts to the Moon amid a race with China.
Increased competition between the two firms could “give us more choices with regard to launch.”
“Additional missions means greater innovation in space,” an ex-agency official said. “It can’t be a bad thing to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”
