The aerospace company, owned by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, was forced to postpone the highly anticipated liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on the weekend because of unfavorable meteorological factors at the Florida launch site.
Mission Postponement Reasons
Rainfall and a ground system issue caused early setbacks, followed by thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch ended, forcing mission controllers to reschedule the vehicle's upcoming flight.
Competition between Blue Origin and Musk's space company has been heating up in the past few months.
Rescheduled Attempt
To relieve airspace congestion amid the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is limiting commercial rocket liftoffs from Monday.
Following the cancellation of the launch, Blue Origin announced late Sunday that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was aiming for another attempt as soon as Wednesday within a time slot of afternoon hours EST.
Launch Goals
When it eventually launches, the 322-foot tall launch vehicle will transport the US space agency's two Mars-bound probes to the Red Planet, to study the planet’s climate history with the long-term goal of sending people there.
The mission will also serve as a crucial trial of whether it can achieve reusable rocket landing, which would prove a technical breakthrough for the firm if accomplished.
Earlier Mission
The rocket's first launch in January was marked as a achievement, as its cargo achieved orbit and completed experiments.
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 descent.
Landing Attempts
For this new mission Blue Origin will try once more to recover the first stage.
Until now, only SpaceX has managed that feat.
Industry Competition
Rival firms of tycoons Musk and Bezos are engaged in a private sector space competition that has grown more intense lately, as NASA began accepting proposals for its lunar exploration program, noting that SpaceX was lagging behind.
The current administration has seen the administration push NASA to speed up its progress to launch astronauts to the lunar surface in competition against China.
Increased competition between the two firms could “expand our options with regard to liftoff.”
“More launches means more ideas in space,” a former NASA chief technologist said. “It can’t be a negative to have the competitor, even trailing behind.”
