The aerospace company, owned by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the eagerly awaited launch of its powerful launch vehicle on the weekend because of adverse weather conditions at Cape Canaveral.
Launch Delay Reasons
Precipitation and a ground system issue led to early setbacks, then came cumulus cloud cover as the narrow time frame for launch closed, leaving mission controllers to reschedule the rocket’s planned second mission.
Competition between Blue Origin and Musk's space company has been heating up in the past few months.
New Launch Window
To relieve airspace congestion during the US federal government shutdown, 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 FAA, it was targeting another attempt as soon as Wednesday within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm Eastern Standard time.
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, to examine the planet’s climate history with the long-term goal of human exploration.
Blue Origin’s launch will also serve as a key test of its ability to perform booster recovery, which would represent a major advancement for the firm if successful.
Previous Flight
The rocket's first launch in the start of the year was considered a success, as its cargo reached space and successfully performed tests.
But its first-stage booster, which was designed as reusable, did not stick its landing on a platform in the Atlantic, and ended up destroyed during descent.
Recovery Efforts
In its second effort the launch provider will make another attempt to land the booster stage.
Thus far, only Musk’s company SpaceX has achieved that feat.
Space Race
Rival firms of billionaires Musk and Bezos are locked in a commercial space race that recently escalated, as NASA began accepting bids for its lunar exploration program, complaining that one company was lagging behind.
Donald Trump’s second term has involved the administration push the agency to speed up its timeline to send a crewed mission to the lunar surface in competition against the Asian nation.
More rivalry between the two firms could “give us more choices with regard to launch.”
“More launches means more ideas in space,” a former NASA chief technologist said. “It can’t be a bad thing to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”
