Jeff Bezos Blue Origin rocket to launch again after delays over ice buildup and weather concerns

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos's space company, Blue Origin, will try to launch a massive new rocket on Tuesday again after postponing the debut launch due to ice buildup in critical plumbing, reported PTI.

Blue Origin's 320-foot-long New Glenn rocket was planned to be launched on Monday with a prototype satellite. However, ice was formed in a purge line on some of the rocket's hydraulic systems, and launch controllers ran out of time to clear it, the report cited the company.

A poor weather forecast for Tuesday could cause more delays in the launch, the company stated. Thick clouds and stiff wind were expected at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida.

The test flight of the rocket was delayed due to rough seas, risking the plans of the company to land the first-stage booster on a floating platform in the Atlantic.

Named after John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth, New Glenn is five times taller than Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket that carries customers from Texas to the edge of space.

About Blue Origin

Blue Origin was founded by Jeff Bezos nearly 25 years ago. He was present at Monday's countdown from Mission Control, which is located at the rocket factory outside the gates of NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

“We're going to pick ourselves up and keep going,” Bezos said.

The Amazon CEO is “very optimistic” about the future of Blue Origin, under the coming Donald Trump presidency, Bezos told Reuters in an interview on January 12.

Meanwhile, the competition in the space industry between Bezos-owned Blue Origin and Musk-owned SpaceX is grabbing eyeballs.

SpaceX is planning the next orbital test of Starship, its gargantuan new-generation rocket, on January 15, raising concerns about competition in the space industry.

"SpaceX has for the past several years been pretty much the only game in town, and so having a competitor... this is great," G. Scott Hubbard, a retired senior NASA official, told AFP.