The aerospace company, owned by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the eagerly awaited liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on the weekend because of unfavorable weather conditions at Cape Canaveral.
Mission Postponement Reasons
Rainfall and a ground system issue led to initial delays, then came cumulus cloud cover 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 intensifying in recent months.
New Launch Window
To ease traffic in the skies amid the government funding gap, the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting private space launches from Monday.
After scrubbing the mission, the company said on Sunday evening that, working alongside the FAA, it was aiming for a new try as soon as midweek within a window of 2.50pm to 4.17pm Eastern Standard time.
Launch Goals
When it eventually launches, the 98-meter tall launch vehicle will transport the US space agency's two Mars-bound probes to Mars, to study the Martian atmospheric past with the eventual hope of human exploration.
The mission will also serve as a key test of its ability to perform booster recovery, which would prove a major advancement for the firm if accomplished.
Previous Flight
The rocket's first launch in the start of the year was marked as a achievement, as its cargo achieved orbit and successfully performed experiments.
But its main rocket section, which was designed as reusable, did not stick its touchdown on a platform in the Atlantic, and instead was lost during the return phase.
Recovery Efforts
For this new mission the launch provider will make another attempt to recover the booster stage.
Until now, only SpaceX has achieved that feat.
Space Race
Rival firms of tycoons Musk and Bezos are locked in a private sector space competition that has grown more intense lately, as NASA began accepting bids for its planned moon mission, complaining that one company was falling behind schedule.
Donald Trump’s second term has involved the administration push NASA to speed up its progress to send a crewed mission to the lunar surface in competition against China.
More rivalry between the two firms could “expand our options with regard to liftoff.”
“Additional missions means more ideas in orbit,” a former NASA chief technologist said. “It can’t be a negative to have the competitor, even trailing behind.”
