Blue Origin's Second Rocket Launch Postponed Due to Poor Weather Conditions
The aerospace company, owned by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, was forced to delay the highly anticipated launch of its New Glenn rocket on the weekend due to unfavorable weather factors at Cape Canaveral.
Mission Postponement Causes
Rainfall and a ground system issue led to early setbacks, followed by thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch ended, forcing managers to push back the vehicle's upcoming flight.
Rivalry between Bezos' firm and Musk's space company has been heating up in the past few months.
Rescheduled Attempt
To ease airspace congestion amid the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is limiting commercial rocket liftoffs starting Monday.
After scrubbing the launch, Blue Origin said on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the FAA, it was targeting another attempt as soon as midweek within a window of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST.
Launch Goals
When it eventually launches, the 98-meter New Glenn rocket will carry the US space agency's two Mars-bound probes to the Red Planet, to study the Martian atmospheric past with the eventual hope of sending people there.
The mission will also act as a crucial trial of its ability to perform booster recovery, which would represent a technical breakthrough for the firm if successful.
Earlier Mission
New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was marked as a success, as its payload reached space and successfully performed experiments.
But its main rocket section, which was meant to be recoverable, did not stick its touchdown on a platform in the Atlantic, and ended up destroyed during descent.
Landing Attempts
In its second effort Blue Origin will make another attempt to land the first stage.
Until now, only SpaceX has managed that accomplishment.
Industry Competition
Rival firms of tycoons Musk and Bezos are locked in a commercial space race that recently escalated, as the space agency began accepting bids for its lunar exploration program, complaining that one company was lagging behind.
Donald Trump’s second term has involved the administration push NASA to accelerate its timeline to launch astronauts to the lunar surface amid a race with the Asian nation.
Increased competition between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “give us more choices with regard to launch.”
“More launches means greater innovation in space,” an ex-agency official said. “It isn't a bad thing to have Blue Origin, even not in the lead.”
