The aerospace company, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to delay the highly anticipated launch of its powerful launch vehicle on the weekend due to unfavorable meteorological factors at the Florida launch site.
Mission Postponement Reasons
Precipitation and a ground system issue led to early setbacks, then came thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch closed, forcing mission controllers to reschedule the vehicle's upcoming flight.
Rivalry between Blue Origin and Musk's space company has been intensifying in recent months.
Rescheduled Attempt
To ease traffic in the skies amid the US federal government shutdown, the aviation regulator is restricting private space launches from the beginning of the week.
After scrubbing the launch, Blue Origin announced late Sunday that, in coordination with the FAA, it was aiming for another attempt as early as Wednesday within a time slot of afternoon hours EST.
Mission Objectives
Upon successful liftoff, the 98-meter New Glenn rocket will transport the US space agency's Escapade twin spacecraft to the Red Planet, in an effort to study the Martian atmospheric past with the long-term goal of human exploration.
The mission will also act 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
The rocket's first launch in January was considered a success, as its cargo achieved orbit and successfully performed experiments.
But its first-stage booster, which was meant to be reusable, did not stick its landing on a ocean-based target in the Atlantic, and ended up destroyed during descent.
Landing Attempts
In its second effort the launch provider will make another attempt to land the first stage.
Thus far, only Musk’s company SpaceX has managed that accomplishment.
Industry Competition
The competing companies of billionaires Bezos and Musk are engaged 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 seen the government push NASA to accelerate its timeline to send a crewed mission to the Moon in competition against China.
Increased competition between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “give us more choices with regard to liftoff.”
“Additional missions means more ideas in space,” an ex-agency official stated. “It isn't a bad thing to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”
