Blue Origin, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to delay the highly anticipated launch of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday due to unfavorable meteorological factors at the Florida launch site.
Launch Delay Causes
Precipitation and a ground system issue led to initial delays, then came cumulus cloud cover as the 88-minute launch window ended, forcing managers to reschedule the vehicle's upcoming flight.
Rivalry between Bezos' firm and Musk's space company has been heating up in the past few months.
Rescheduled Attempt
To ease traffic in the skies amid the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is restricting private space launches from Monday.
After scrubbing the launch, the company announced on Sunday evening that, working alongside the FAA, it was targeting a new try as soon as midweek within a window of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST.
Mission Objectives
When it eventually launches, the 322-foot New Glenn rocket will carry the US space agency's two Mars-bound probes to the Red Planet, in an effort to study the planet’s climate history with the eventual hope of sending people there.
The mission will also serve as a key test of its ability to perform reusable rocket landing, which would represent a major advancement for the company if accomplished.
Earlier Mission
New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was marked as a achievement, as its payload reached space and completed experiments.
But its main rocket section, which was meant to be reusable, failed to make its touchdown on a platform in the Atlantic, and ended up destroyed during descent.
Recovery Efforts
For this new mission the launch provider will make another attempt to land the first stage.
Until now, only Musk’s company SpaceX has achieved that accomplishment.
Industry Competition
The competing companies of tycoons Bezos and Musk are engaged in a commercial space race that recently escalated, as NASA began accepting bids for its planned moon mission, complaining that SpaceX was lagging behind.
The current administration has involved the government pile pressure on NASA to accelerate its timeline to launch astronauts to the lunar surface in competition against the Asian nation.
More rivalry between the two firms could “expand our options with regard to launch.”
“More launches means greater innovation in space,” a former NASA chief technologist said. “It can’t be a negative to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”
