Blue Origin, founded by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, had to delay the highly anticipated launch of its powerful launch vehicle on Sunday due to unfavorable meteorological factors at Cape Canaveral.
Launch Delay Causes
Precipitation and a ground system issue caused early setbacks, followed by cumulus cloud cover as the narrow time frame for launch ended, forcing mission controllers 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.
New Launch Window
To relieve traffic in the skies during the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is restricting private space launches from Monday.
Following the cancellation of the mission, the company announced on Sunday evening that, working alongside the FAA, it was aiming for another attempt as soon as midweek within a window of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST.
Mission Objectives
When it eventually launches, the 98-meter tall launch vehicle will carry NASA’s Escapade twin spacecraft to the Red Planet, to examine the planet’s climate history with the long-term goal of human exploration.
The mission will also act as a crucial trial of its ability to perform reusable rocket landing, which would represent a major advancement for the company if accomplished.
Earlier Mission
The rocket's first launch in January was considered a achievement, as its cargo reached space and successfully performed experiments.
But its main rocket section, which was meant to be reusable, failed to make its landing on a ocean-based target in the Atlantic, and instead was lost during descent.
Recovery Efforts
For this new mission the launch provider will make another attempt to land the booster stage.
Thus far, only SpaceX has managed that accomplishment.
Space Race
Rival firms of billionaires Musk and Bezos are locked in a commercial space race that has grown more intense lately, as the space agency opened up proposals for its lunar exploration program, noting that one company was lagging behind.
The current administration has seen the government push NASA to accelerate its timeline to launch astronauts to the lunar surface amid a race with China.
More rivalry between the two firms could “give us more choices with regard to liftoff.”
“Additional missions means greater innovation in orbit,” an ex-agency official said. “It can’t be a negative to have Blue Origin, even not in the lead.”
