Blue Origin scrubs second New Glenn launch

New Glenn volition person to beryllium beauteous for a fewer much days. | Image: Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo/Getty Images

The 2nd motorboat of Blue Origin’s partially reusable New Glenn rocket was scrubbed connected Sunday owed to adverse upwind conditions, delaying NASA’s latest Mars mission. The Jeff Bezos-owned commercialized abstraction institution announced that its adjacent motorboat window from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station successful Florida volition beryllium attempted “no earlier” than Wednesday, November 12th, betwixt 2:50PM and 4:17PM ET.

This is simply a important motorboat for the 320-foot-tall megarocket, which is tasked with sending NASA’s twin ESCAPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) probes into abstraction — the archetypal Mars-bound ngo since NASA launched its Perseverance and Ingenuity vehicles successful 2020 to research the reddish planet’s surface. The ESCAPADE satellites are projected to scope Mars orbit successful 2027, wherever they volition measurement the planet’s magnetic tract and atmosphere.

This volition besides beryllium Blue Origin’s latest effort to onshore New Glenn’s reusable first-stage booster, which, overmuch similar SpaceX’s Falcon rocket boosters, is designed to vertically interaction down connected a sea-based level pursuing launch. While Blue Origin successfully launched New Glenn for the archetypal clip successful January after respective delays, the booster was mislaid during its landing descent. A palmy motorboat and landing would assistance Blue Origin to beryllium itself arsenic a deep-space motorboat supplier that’s susceptible of competing with established rivals similar SpaceX and United Launch Alliance.

Blue Origin says it worked with the Federal Aviation Administration to prime its latest motorboat window, having seemingly been fixed an exemption to new FAA rules that prohibit commercialized rockets from being launched betwixt 6AM and 10PM. This exigency bid came into effect connected November 10th to alleviate aerial postulation congestion during the ongoing authorities shutdown. If each goes to plan, the unrecorded webcast for New Glenn’s 2nd formation volition commencement 20 minutes anterior to motorboat connected Wednesday.