Blue Origin successfully launched its giant New Glenn rocket on Thursday, carrying two Nasa spacecraft bound for Mars. The 321ft (98-metre) rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral space force station after a four-day delay caused by poor weather and solar storms.
In a milestone for the company, the rocket's booster was recovered after separating from the upper stage, landing upright on a barge 375 miles (600km) offshore. This marks the first successful booster recovery for Blue Origin, a key step towards reusability and cost reduction.
The twin Mars orbiters, named Escapade, will spend a year near Earth before using a gravity assist to head to Mars, arriving in 2027. Once there, they will map the planet's upper atmosphere and magnetic fields to study how solar wind affects Mars's atmosphere, shedding light on its transition from a wet, warm world to a dry, dusty one.
The mission, costing under $80m, is managed by the University of California, Berkeley. Nasa delayed the launch from last year due to concerns over Blue Origin's new rocket. The New Glenn is five times larger than Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket and is also slated to carry a prototype Blue Moon lunar lander in coming months.
Blue Origin holds a Nasa contract for the third crewed moon landing under the Artemis program, while SpaceX's Starship was selected for the first two. However, Nasa recently reopened the contract for the first landing, citing concerns over Starship's progress. Nasa aims to land astronauts on the moon by the end of the decade.
