Blue Origin, founded by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, had to delay the highly anticipated liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on the weekend because of adverse weather factors at the Florida launch site.
Launch Delay Causes
Rainfall and a technical problem on the ground caused early setbacks, then came thick clouds as the 88-minute launch window ended, forcing mission controllers to push back the vehicle's upcoming flight.
Competition between Bezos' firm and Musk's space company has been heating up in the past few months.
Rescheduled Attempt
To ease airspace congestion during the government funding gap, the Federal Aviation Administration is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs from the beginning of the week.
After scrubbing the mission, Blue Origin announced on Sunday evening that, working alongside the regulatory body, it was aiming for another attempt as early as midweek within a time slot of afternoon hours EST.
Launch Goals
Upon successful liftoff, the 98-meter tall launch vehicle will carry the US space agency's two Mars-bound probes to Mars, to study the planet’s climate history with the eventual hope of human exploration.
The mission will also act as a key test of whether it can achieve booster recovery, which would prove a major advancement for the firm if accomplished.
Previous Flight
The rocket's first launch in January was marked as a achievement, as its payload reached space and completed tests.
But its first-stage booster, which was designed as reusable, did not stick its landing on a ocean-based target in the ocean, and instead was lost during descent.
Landing Attempts
For this new mission the launch provider will make another attempt to land the first stage.
Thus far, only Musk’s company SpaceX has achieved that feat.
Space Race
The competing companies of tycoons Bezos and Musk are engaged in a private sector space competition that recently escalated, as the space agency began accepting proposals for its lunar exploration program, complaining that SpaceX was lagging behind.
Donald Trump’s second term has involved the administration pile pressure on the agency to accelerate its timeline to send a crewed mission to the Moon amid a race with China.
More rivalry between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “expand our options with regard to liftoff.”
“More launches means greater innovation in orbit,” a former NASA chief technologist said. “It isn't a negative to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”
