The aerospace company, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was forced to delay the eagerly awaited liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on the weekend due to unfavorable meteorological conditions at Cape Canaveral.
Launch Delay Reasons
Rainfall and a technical problem on the ground led to initial delays, then came thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch closed, forcing mission controllers to push back the rocket’s planned second mission.
Rivalry between Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been heating up in the past few months.
New Launch Window
To relieve traffic in the skies amid the US federal government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs from Monday.
After scrubbing the mission, Blue Origin said on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the FAA, it was targeting another attempt as soon as midweek within a window of 2.50pm to 4.17pm Eastern Standard time.
Launch Goals
Upon successful liftoff, the 322-foot tall launch vehicle will carry NASA’s Escapade twin spacecraft to the Red Planet, to study the planet’s climate history with the long-term goal of human exploration.
Blue Origin’s launch will also act as a crucial trial of whether it can achieve reusable rocket landing, which would prove a technical breakthrough for the firm if accomplished.
Previous Flight
The rocket's first launch in January was marked as a achievement, as its payload reached space and successfully performed tests.
But its first-stage booster, which was designed as recoverable, did not stick its landing on a ocean-based target in the Atlantic, and instead was lost during the return phase.
Recovery Efforts
For this new mission Blue Origin will make another attempt to recover the first stage.
Thus far, only SpaceX has managed that feat.
Industry Competition
Rival firms of billionaires Musk and Bezos are locked in a commercial space race that recently escalated, as the space agency opened up proposals for its planned moon mission, noting that one company was lagging behind.
The current administration has involved the administration push the agency to accelerate its progress to send a crewed mission to the lunar surface in competition against China.
More rivalry between the two firms could “give us more choices with regard to launch.”
“Additional missions means more ideas in space,” an ex-agency official said. “It isn't a negative to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”
