The aerospace company, founded by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the highly anticipated liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on the weekend because of adverse meteorological factors at the Florida launch site.
Mission Postponement Reasons
Precipitation and a technical problem on the ground caused early setbacks, then came cumulus cloud cover as the narrow time frame for launch closed, leaving mission controllers to push back the rocket’s planned second mission.
Competition between Bezos' firm and Musk's space company has been intensifying in recent months.
Rescheduled Attempt
To relieve airspace congestion amid the government funding gap, the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting private space launches from Monday.
Following the cancellation of the mission, the company said on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the FAA, it was aiming for another attempt as early as midweek within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST.
Mission Objectives
Upon successful liftoff, the 322-foot New Glenn rocket will carry the US space agency's Escapade twin spacecraft to the Red Planet, 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 reusable rocket landing, which would prove a technical breakthrough for the firm if successful.
Previous Flight
The rocket's first launch in January was considered a success, as its cargo achieved orbit and successfully performed tests.
But its main rocket section, which was designed as recoverable, did not stick its landing on a ocean-based target in the ocean, and ended up destroyed during descent.
Landing Attempts
In its second effort Blue Origin will try once more to land the booster stage.
Until now, only Musk’s company SpaceX has achieved that accomplishment.
Space Race
The competing companies of tycoons Musk and Bezos are locked in a private sector space competition 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.
The current administration has seen the government push the agency to speed up its timeline to launch astronauts to the lunar surface in competition against the Asian nation.
More rivalry between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “give us more choices with regard to liftoff.”
“Additional missions means more ideas in space,” a former NASA chief technologist stated. “It isn't a bad thing to have the competitor, even trailing behind.”
