Blue Origin, owned by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, was forced to delay the eagerly awaited liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday because of adverse meteorological factors at the Florida launch site.
Mission Postponement Reasons
Rainfall and a ground system issue caused initial delays, then came thick clouds as the 88-minute launch window closed, forcing managers to reschedule the vehicle's upcoming flight.
Competition between Blue Origin and Musk's space company has been heating up in the past few months.
New Launch Window
To relieve traffic in the skies amid the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs from the beginning of the week.
Following the cancellation of the mission, Blue Origin said late Sunday that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was targeting another attempt as early as midweek within a window of 2.50pm to 4.17pm Eastern Standard time.
Launch Goals
Upon successful liftoff, the 98-meter tall launch vehicle will carry NASA’s two Mars-bound probes to the Red Planet, to examine the Martian atmospheric past with the long-term goal of human exploration.
The mission will also serve as a crucial trial of its ability to perform reusable rocket landing, which would represent a major advancement for the firm if accomplished.
Earlier Mission
The rocket's first launch in January was considered a success, as its cargo reached space and completed experiments.
But its first-stage booster, which was designed as reusable, failed to make its touchdown on a ocean-based target in the ocean, and ended up destroyed during descent.
Landing Attempts
For this new mission the launch provider will make another attempt to land the booster stage.
Until now, only SpaceX has achieved that accomplishment.
Industry Competition
The competing companies of tycoons Bezos and Musk are engaged in a private sector space competition that has grown more intense lately, as NASA opened up proposals for its lunar exploration program, noting that one company was falling behind schedule.
The current administration has seen the administration pile pressure on the agency to accelerate its progress to launch astronauts to the lunar surface in competition against China.
Increased competition between the two firms could “give us more choices with regard to liftoff.”
“More launches means more ideas in orbit,” an ex-agency official said. “It isn't a negative to have the competitor, even trailing behind.”
