Blue Origin, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to delay the highly anticipated launch of its powerful launch vehicle on Sunday because of unfavorable weather conditions at Cape Canaveral.
Mission Postponement Reasons
Precipitation and a technical problem on the ground led to early setbacks, then came cumulus cloud cover as the narrow time frame for launch ended, forcing mission controllers to reschedule the vehicle's upcoming flight.
Rivalry between Bezos' firm and Musk's space company has been intensifying in the past few months.
New Launch Window
To relieve traffic in the skies amid the government funding gap, the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting commercial rocket liftoffs starting Monday.
After scrubbing the launch, Blue Origin said on Sunday evening that, working alongside the FAA, it was aiming for another attempt as soon as Wednesday within a window of afternoon hours Eastern Standard time.
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 sending people there.
Blue Origin’s launch will also serve as a key test of whether it can achieve reusable rocket landing, which would represent a technical breakthrough for the firm if accomplished.
Previous Flight
The rocket's first launch in the start of the year was considered a success, as its cargo achieved orbit and successfully performed tests.
But its first-stage booster, which was meant to be reusable, did not stick its landing on a platform in the Atlantic, and instead was lost during the return phase.
Recovery Efforts
In its second effort Blue Origin will make another attempt to land the booster stage.
Until now, only SpaceX has managed that accomplishment.
Space Race
The competing companies of tycoons Bezos and Musk are locked in a commercial space race that recently escalated, as NASA began accepting bids for its planned moon mission, noting that one company was falling behind schedule.
The current administration has involved the government pile pressure on NASA to speed up its timeline to launch astronauts to the lunar surface in competition against China.
More rivalry between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “give us more choices with regard to launch.”
“More launches means more ideas in space,” an ex-agency official stated. “It can’t be a bad thing to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”
