Blue Origin New Glenn Rocket Puts Customer Satellite in Wrong Orbit During Third Flight
Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket put a customer's satellite into the wrong orbit during its third flight on Sunday. The rocket successfully reused its booster for the first time, but failed to deliver AST SpaceMobile's communications satellite to its intended orbit.
Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin achieved a major milestone Sunday by successfully reusing one of its New Glenn rockets for the first time. But the mission had a critical failure: the rocket put a customer's satellite in the wrong place.
The launch appeared normal at first. The rocket lifted off and the reused booster landed safely. But about two hours later, Blue Origin revealed the communications satellite for customer AST SpaceMobile ended up in an "off-nominal orbit" - space industry speak for the wrong place.
This was the third flight for Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket, which competes with SpaceX's Falcon 9. While reusing rockets saves money and marks progress for Blue Origin, getting satellites to the right orbit is the main job. Wrong orbits can make satellites unusable or require costly fuel to fix.
AST SpaceMobile builds satellites designed to provide cell phone service directly from space. The company has not said whether this satellite can still work from its current orbit.
This setback shows space launches are still risky, even for experienced companies like Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin. Wrong orbits can make satellites useless, costing customers millions and delaying services that could affect internet and phone coverage.
Blue Origin will investigate what caused the orbit error. AST SpaceMobile will assess if the satellite can still function.
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