Jeff Bezos Delays New Glenn Rocket Launch Amid Technical Challenges
The ambitious space venture of Jeff Bezos faces another setback as Blue Origin, the aerospace company founded by the billionaire, has postponed the inaugural flight of its New Glenn rocket due to unspecified technical issues. This rocket, designed to compete with Elon Musk's Falcon rockets, was scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The launch was initially set for a three-hour window starting at 7:00 AM Spanish time.
Blue Origin began a live broadcast to showcase what was anticipated to be a historic event, following over a decade of development for the New Glenn. However, as the countdown commenced, delays were announced repeatedly to ensure all systems were thoroughly checked and ready for flight. Ultimately, the countdown was halted at 9:10 AM, with Blue Origin issuing a brief statement on social media indicating the decision to cancel the attempt due to a problem identified in a subsystem of the vehicle, without providing a timeline for the next launch attempt.
This cancellation leaves the inaugural mission, NG-1, in limbo. The mission was expected to last a maximum of six hours if the 98-meter tall and 7-meter wide spacecraft could successfully navigate its planned orbital flight stages. Jarrett Jones, the vice president overseeing the New Glenn's development, expressed confidence prior to the launch, emphasizing the extensive preparations undertaken by the team. He acknowledged, however, that no ground tests or simulations could replace the actual flight experience of the rocket. Jones remarked that regardless of the outcome, they would learn valuable lessons to apply to future launches.
The primary objective of this test flight was to achieve a soft landing of the rocket's first stage booster, standing 57 meters tall, on a platform in the Atlantic Ocean named in honor of Bezos' mother. Achieving this milestone is essential for New Glenn to become a partially reusable launch vehicle, capable of conducting up to 25 missions with each booster. The launch had previously been postponed twice, first due to adverse weather conditions that affected the planned landing operation.
Despite the challenges, Blue Origin's leadership remained optimistic. Ariane Cornell, a vice president for space systems at the company, acknowledged the ambitious nature of attempting to land the booster on the first try, but emphasized that ensuring the rocket reaches orbit was the primary goal. Cornell drew comparisons between New Glenn's capabilities and the historic Saturn V rocket, which played a crucial role in Apollo missions to the Moon, reiterating that the company aims to utilize New Glenn for lunar missions as well.
In a significant development, NASA has selected Blue Origin to construct a lunar landing module designed to facilitate astronaut landings on the Moon during the upcoming Artemis missions over the next decade. New Glenn has been designated as the launch vehicle for these lunar capsules. However, the ongoing delays for the New Glenn have raised concerns about its timeline; the rocket's debut was initially slated for 2020, a deadline that has since been missed. There were hopes of preparing the rocket in time to launch the twin probes of the ESCAPADE mission in October 2024, a timeline that has now been pushed back due to the New Glenn's readiness.
This latest delay also casts uncertainty on the schedule for a planned mission to Mars, which is expected to launch before 2026, when the next opportunity to travel to the red planet arises. Elon Musk has stated that SpaceX intends to send its Starship to Mars during that window.
