The aerospace company, owned by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the eagerly awaited liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on the weekend because of adverse weather factors at Cape Canaveral.
Mission Postponement Causes
Precipitation and a ground system issue caused initial delays, then came thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch ended, forcing managers to push back the vehicle's upcoming flight.
Competition between Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been heating up in the past few months.
New Launch Window
To ease airspace congestion amid the US federal government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting commercial rocket liftoffs from the beginning of the week.
After scrubbing the mission, the company said on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was targeting another attempt as soon as Wednesday within a window 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 Martian atmospheric past with the long-term goal of sending people there.
The mission will also serve as a key test of whether it can achieve booster recovery, which would prove a major advancement for the firm if accomplished.
Previous Flight
The rocket's first launch in January was marked as a achievement, as its payload achieved orbit and successfully performed tests.
But its main rocket section, which was designed as reusable, failed to make its landing on a ocean-based target in the ocean, and ended up destroyed during the return phase.
Recovery Efforts
In its second effort the launch provider will make another attempt to land the booster stage.
Thus far, only SpaceX has managed that accomplishment.
Space Race
The competing companies of tycoons Musk and Bezos are engaged in a commercial space race that has grown more intense lately, as the space agency began accepting proposals for its planned moon mission, complaining that SpaceX was falling behind schedule.
The current administration has involved the government pile pressure on NASA to speed up its progress to send a crewed mission to the lunar surface in competition against the Asian nation.
More rivalry between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “expand our options with regard to liftoff.”
“More launches means more ideas in orbit,” a former NASA chief technologist said. “It isn't a negative to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”
