The aerospace company, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to delay the highly anticipated liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on the weekend due to unfavorable weather factors at Cape Canaveral.
Launch Delay Causes
Rainfall and a technical problem on the ground led to initial delays, then came cumulus cloud cover as the 88-minute launch window closed, forcing mission controllers to push back the vehicle's upcoming flight.
Competition between Bezos' firm and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been intensifying in the past few months.
Rescheduled Attempt
To relieve airspace congestion during the US federal government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting commercial rocket liftoffs starting the beginning of the week.
After scrubbing the mission, Blue Origin announced on Sunday evening that, working alongside the regulatory body, it was aiming for another attempt as soon as Wednesday within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST.
Mission Objectives
Upon successful liftoff, the 98-meter tall launch vehicle will carry the US space agency's two Mars-bound probes to Mars, to examine the planet’s climate history with the long-term goal of sending people there.
The mission will also act as a key test of whether it can achieve reusable rocket landing, which would represent a major advancement for the firm if accomplished.
Previous Flight
The rocket's first launch in January was marked as a achievement, as its cargo achieved orbit and successfully performed experiments.
But its main rocket section, which was designed as recoverable, did not stick its touchdown on a ocean-based target in the ocean, and ended up destroyed during descent.
Landing Attempts
In its second effort the launch provider will try once more to land the booster stage.
Thus far, only SpaceX has managed that accomplishment.
Space Race
Rival firms of billionaires Musk and Bezos are engaged in a commercial space race that has grown more intense lately, as NASA began accepting bids for its lunar exploration program, complaining that one company was falling behind schedule.
The current administration has seen the administration pile pressure on the agency to speed up its progress to launch astronauts to the lunar surface amid a race with China.
More rivalry between the two firms could “expand our options with regard to liftoff.”
“More launches means more ideas in space,” a former NASA chief technologist stated. “It can’t be a bad thing to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”
