NASA delayed the launch of a pair of identical space probes to Mars until spring 2025 over concerns about the readiness of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket.
Officials at the space agency—weighing whether to fuel up the Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (EscaPADE) spacecraft that were expected to launch next month—decided that the likelihood of a launch delay was too high. Removing the toxic fuel from the spacecraft is an expensive task, and the space agency decided it would be better to wait for more confidence in a launch date.
Blue Origin said the first flight of its long-awaited New Glenn rocket will instead take place in November, now carrying cargo related to Blue Ring, the company’s orbital transfer vehicle-slash-payload platform.
Missing window: NASA had hoped that EscaPADE would take flight during a window between Oct. 13 and Oct. 21, which was ideal for reaching Mars. It’s not clear how the new launch window will affect the transit time and nominal mission for the spacecraft, which will study solar weather’s interaction with the Martian atmosphere.
Blue Origin, founded by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos in 1999, has been developing New Glenn for more than a decade, with a first launch initially expected in 2020.
In recent weeks, the company released new images of the rocket’s hardware, which raised excitement—but also questions about why the first stage was being assembled for the first time less than two months ahead of its first flight. Blue has yet to test fire New Glenn’s second stage or perform an integrated first stage engine test firing, one of the final steps before any launch.
Rush to the pad: Blue CEO Dave Limp, a former top Amazon leader under Bezos, joined the company late last year. The company has at least delivered the BE-4 rocket engines required by United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket, and flown two successful crewed New Shepard missions under his watch.
Not all the company’s execution challenges have been solved, however: Bloomberg reported last month that New Glenn hardware had been damaged due to negligent processing.
