The aerospace company, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the eagerly awaited launch of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday due to unfavorable meteorological conditions at the Florida launch site.
Launch Delay Reasons
Precipitation and a technical problem on the ground led to early setbacks, then came cumulus cloud cover as the narrow time frame for launch closed, forcing managers to reschedule the rocket’s planned second mission.
Rivalry between Bezos' firm and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been heating up in the past few months.
New Launch Window
To ease airspace congestion during the US federal government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration is restricting private space launches from the beginning of the week.
Following the cancellation of the mission, the company announced on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the FAA, it was targeting another attempt as early as Wednesday within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST.
Launch Goals
Upon successful liftoff, the 322-foot New Glenn rocket will carry NASA’s Escapade twin spacecraft to the Red Planet, to study the Martian atmospheric past with the long-term goal of human exploration.
The mission will also serve as a key test of its ability to perform reusable rocket landing, which would represent a technical breakthrough for the firm if successful.
Previous Flight
The rocket's first launch in the start of the year was considered a achievement, as its payload reached space and completed experiments.
But its first-stage booster, which was designed as recoverable, failed to make its landing on a platform in the ocean, and ended up destroyed during the return phase.
Landing Attempts
For this new mission the launch provider will try once more to land the booster stage.
Until now, only Musk’s company SpaceX has achieved that feat.
Industry Competition
The competing companies of billionaires Musk and Bezos are locked in a private sector space competition that has grown more intense lately, as NASA began accepting proposals for its planned moon mission, complaining that SpaceX was falling behind schedule.
Donald Trump’s second term has seen the government push the agency to speed up its timeline to launch astronauts to the lunar surface amid a race with China.
Increased competition between the two firms could “give us more choices with regard to liftoff.”
“Additional missions means more ideas in space,” an ex-agency official said. “It can’t be a negative to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”
