Blue Origin, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the eagerly awaited launch of its powerful launch vehicle on the weekend due to adverse meteorological conditions at Cape Canaveral.
Mission Postponement Reasons
Rainfall and a ground system issue caused initial delays, then came cumulus cloud cover as the narrow time frame for launch closed, forcing mission controllers to push back the vehicle's upcoming flight.
Rivalry between Blue Origin and Musk's space company has been intensifying in the past few months.
Rescheduled Attempt
To relieve airspace congestion amid the US federal government shutdown, the aviation regulator is limiting commercial rocket liftoffs starting the beginning of the week.
After scrubbing the launch, Blue Origin said on Sunday evening that, working alongside the regulatory body, it was aiming for a new try as early as midweek within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST.
Launch Goals
Upon successful liftoff, the 98-meter New Glenn rocket will transport the US space agency's Escapade twin spacecraft to the Red Planet, in an effort to examine the Martian atmospheric past with the eventual hope of sending people there.
Blue Origin’s launch will also serve as a crucial trial of whether it can achieve booster recovery, which would prove a technical breakthrough for the firm if accomplished.
Previous Flight
New Glenn’s inaugural flight in January was considered a success, as its payload reached space and successfully performed tests.
But its main rocket section, which was meant to be reusable, did not stick its landing on a ocean-based target in the Atlantic, and instead was lost during descent.
Landing Attempts
For this new mission Blue Origin will try once more to recover the first stage.
Until now, only SpaceX has achieved that accomplishment.
Space Race
The competing companies of tycoons Musk and Bezos are engaged in a private sector space competition that recently escalated, as the space agency opened up proposals for its lunar exploration program, noting that one company was lagging behind.
The current administration has involved the administration pile pressure on the agency to speed up its timeline to send a crewed mission to the lunar surface in competition against the Asian nation.
More rivalry between the two firms could “expand our options with regard to launch.”
“Additional missions means more ideas in space,” a former NASA chief technologist said. “It can’t be a negative to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”
