The aerospace company, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the eagerly awaited launch of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday because of adverse meteorological conditions at Cape Canaveral.
Launch Delay Reasons
Rainfall and a ground system issue led to initial delays, followed by cumulus cloud cover 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 the past few months.
New Launch Window
To ease traffic in the skies during the US federal government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration is restricting private space launches from the beginning of the week.
Following the cancellation of the mission, the company said late Sunday that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was aiming for a new try as early as Wednesday within a window of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST.
Launch Goals
Upon successful liftoff, the 98-meter New Glenn rocket will carry the US space agency's Escapade twin spacecraft to Mars, in an effort to examine the planet’s climate history with the eventual hope of human exploration.
Blue Origin’s launch will also serve as a crucial trial of its ability to perform reusable rocket landing, which would represent a technical breakthrough for the company if successful.
Previous Flight
New Glenn’s inaugural flight in January was marked as a achievement, as its payload reached space and completed experiments.
But its main rocket section, which was designed as reusable, failed to make its touchdown on a ocean-based target in the Atlantic, and instead was lost during the return phase.
Landing Attempts
For this new mission the launch provider will try once more to recover the first stage.
Until now, only SpaceX has achieved that accomplishment.
Space Race
Rival firms of tycoons Musk and Bezos 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, complaining that one company was lagging behind.
Donald Trump’s second term has seen the administration push the agency to accelerate its progress to launch astronauts to the lunar surface amid a race with the Asian nation.
More rivalry between the two firms could “give us more choices with regard to liftoff.”
“More launches means greater innovation in space,” an ex-agency official stated. “It can’t be a negative to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”
