Blue Origin, owned by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the eagerly awaited liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on the weekend because of adverse weather factors at Cape Canaveral.
Mission Postponement Causes
Rainfall and a technical problem on the ground led to early setbacks, then came cumulus cloud cover as the narrow time frame for launch closed, leaving mission controllers to reschedule the rocket’s planned second mission.
Rivalry between Bezos' firm and Musk's space company has been heating up in the past few months.
New Launch Window
To ease traffic in the skies during the US federal government shutdown, the aviation regulator is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs starting Monday.
After scrubbing the mission, the company said late Sunday that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was targeting another attempt as early as Wednesday within a window of 2.50pm to 4.17pm Eastern Standard time.
Mission Objectives
When it eventually launches, the 98-meter tall launch vehicle will carry NASA’s two Mars-bound probes to Mars, to examine the Martian atmospheric past with the long-term goal of sending people there.
The mission will also serve as a crucial trial of its ability to perform reusable rocket landing, which would prove a technical breakthrough for the company if accomplished.
Earlier Mission
The rocket's first launch in January was marked as a achievement, as its payload reached space and successfully performed tests.
But its main rocket section, which was designed as recoverable, failed to make its landing on a ocean-based target in the ocean, and ended up destroyed during the return phase.
Landing Attempts
For this new mission the launch provider will try once more to recover the first stage.
Thus far, only SpaceX has managed that feat.
Industry Competition
The competing companies of tycoons Musk and Bezos are engaged in a commercial space race that recently escalated, as NASA opened up bids for its lunar exploration program, complaining that SpaceX was lagging behind.
Donald Trump’s second term has seen the government pile pressure on the agency to speed up 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 liftoff.”
“More launches means more ideas in orbit,” a former NASA chief technologist said. “It can’t be a bad thing to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”
