Blue Origin, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was forced to postpone the highly anticipated launch of its powerful launch vehicle on Sunday due to adverse meteorological factors at Cape Canaveral.
Mission Postponement Reasons
Rainfall and a ground system issue caused initial delays, then came thick clouds as the 88-minute launch window closed, forcing mission controllers to push back the vehicle's upcoming flight.
Rivalry between Bezos' firm and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been heating up in the past few months.
Rescheduled Attempt
To relieve traffic in the skies during 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, in coordination with the FAA, it was aiming for a new try as early as Wednesday within a window of 2.50pm to 4.17pm Eastern Standard time.
Mission Objectives
Upon successful liftoff, the 322-foot tall launch vehicle will carry the US space agency's Escapade twin spacecraft to Mars, to examine the Martian atmospheric past with the long-term goal of human exploration.
The mission will also act as a key test of its ability to perform booster recovery, which would represent a technical breakthrough for the company if successful.
Previous Flight
The rocket's first launch in the start of the year was considered a achievement, as its cargo achieved orbit and successfully performed experiments.
But its first-stage booster, which was designed as recoverable, did not stick its landing on a ocean-based target in the ocean, and instead was lost during the return phase.
Recovery Efforts
For this new mission the launch provider will try once more to land the first stage.
Thus far, only Musk’s company SpaceX has managed that feat.
Industry Competition
The competing companies of billionaires Musk and Bezos are engaged in a private sector space competition that recently escalated, as the space agency opened up bids for its lunar exploration program, noting that one company was lagging behind.
The current administration has involved the government push the agency to speed up its progress to launch astronauts to the Moon amid a race with the Asian nation.
More rivalry between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “give us more choices with regard to launch.”
“Additional missions means greater innovation in orbit,” an ex-agency official said. “It isn't a bad thing to have Blue Origin, even not in the lead.”
