Blue Origin, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to delay the highly anticipated liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on Sunday because of adverse weather conditions at Cape Canaveral.
Launch Delay Reasons
Rainfall and a ground system issue caused initial delays, then came cumulus cloud cover as the 88-minute launch window closed, leaving managers to reschedule the rocket’s planned second mission.
Rivalry between Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been intensifying in recent months.
New Launch Window
To ease airspace congestion during the US federal government shutdown, the aviation regulator is restricting private space launches starting Monday.
Following the cancellation of the launch, the company announced on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the FAA, it was aiming for a new try as early as midweek within a time slot of afternoon hours EST.
Mission Objectives
Upon successful liftoff, the 98-meter tall launch vehicle will carry the US space agency's two Mars-bound probes to Mars, in an effort to study the Martian atmospheric past with the long-term goal of sending people there.
The mission will also serve as a crucial trial of its ability to perform reusable rocket landing, which would prove a major advancement for the company if successful.
Previous Flight
The rocket's first launch in January was marked as a success, as its payload achieved orbit and successfully performed tests.
But its main rocket section, which was meant to be recoverable, did not stick its touchdown on a platform in the ocean, and ended up destroyed during descent.
Landing Attempts
For this new mission Blue Origin will try once more to land the booster stage.
Thus far, only SpaceX has managed that accomplishment.
Space Race
The competing companies of billionaires Musk and Bezos are engaged in a private sector space competition that recently escalated, as NASA opened up proposals for its planned moon mission, complaining that SpaceX was falling behind schedule.
The current administration has seen the government push the agency to accelerate its progress to launch astronauts 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 greater innovation in space,” an ex-agency official stated. “It can’t be a bad thing to have Blue Origin, even not in the lead.”