Blue Origin, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was forced to delay the eagerly awaited launch of its powerful launch vehicle on the weekend due to unfavorable weather conditions at the Florida launch site.
Mission Postponement Reasons
Precipitation and a ground system issue caused initial delays, then came thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch ended, forcing mission controllers to reschedule the rocket’s planned second mission.
Rivalry between Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been heating up in the past few months.
Rescheduled Attempt
To ease traffic in the skies during the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is restricting private space launches starting the beginning of the week.
After scrubbing the launch, Blue Origin said late Sunday that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was aiming for a new try as soon as Wednesday within a window of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST.
Launch Goals
When it eventually launches, the 98-meter tall launch vehicle will carry NASA’s Escapade twin spacecraft to Mars, to examine the Martian atmospheric past with the eventual hope of human exploration.
The mission will also serve as a crucial trial of whether it can achieve reusable rocket landing, which would prove a major advancement for the firm if accomplished.
Previous Flight
The rocket's first launch in the start of the year was considered a achievement, as its payload reached space and completed tests.
But its first-stage booster, which was designed as recoverable, failed to make its landing on a platform in the Atlantic, and ended up destroyed during the return phase.
Recovery Efforts
In its second effort Blue Origin will make another attempt to land the first stage.
Until now, only Musk’s company SpaceX has managed that feat.
Space Race
Rival firms of billionaires Musk and Bezos are locked in a private sector space competition that recently escalated, as the space agency began accepting proposals for its planned moon mission, noting that SpaceX was falling behind schedule.
The current administration has seen the government pile pressure on NASA to accelerate its timeline to launch astronauts to the Moon amid a race with the Asian nation.
More rivalry between the two firms could “give us more choices with regard to liftoff.”
“More launches means greater innovation in orbit,” an ex-agency official stated. “It can’t be a bad thing to have the competitor, even trailing behind.”
