Blue Origin, founded by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, was forced to delay the highly anticipated liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on Sunday because of unfavorable meteorological conditions at Cape Canaveral.
Mission Postponement Reasons
Rainfall and a technical problem on the ground led to early setbacks, followed by thick clouds as the 88-minute launch window closed, leaving managers to push back the vehicle's upcoming flight.
Competition between Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been intensifying in the past few months.
New Launch Window
To relieve airspace congestion during the US federal government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting commercial rocket liftoffs starting the beginning of the week.
After scrubbing the mission, Blue Origin said on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was targeting a new try as soon as Wednesday within a window of 2.50pm to 4.17pm Eastern Standard time.
Mission Objectives
Upon successful liftoff, the 98-meter tall launch vehicle will transport the US space agency's two Mars-bound probes to Mars, to study the Martian atmospheric past with the eventual hope of human exploration.
Blue Origin’s launch will also act as a crucial trial of its ability to perform reusable rocket landing, which would represent a technical breakthrough for the firm if successful.
Earlier Mission
The rocket's first launch in the start of the year was marked as a success, as its payload achieved orbit and completed experiments.
But its first-stage booster, which was designed as reusable, did not stick its landing on a ocean-based target in the ocean, and ended up destroyed during descent.
Recovery Efforts
In its second effort the launch provider will make another attempt to recover the first stage.
Until now, only Musk’s company SpaceX has achieved that feat.
Space Race
Rival firms of billionaires Musk and Bezos are locked in a private sector space competition that recently escalated, as NASA began accepting bids 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 send a crewed mission to the lunar surface amid a race with China.
More rivalry between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “give us more choices with regard to launch.”
“Additional missions means greater innovation in orbit,” an ex-agency official said. “It isn't a negative to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”
