Why did Blue Origin’s New Glenn launch scrub?

After an hour and a half attempt, Blue Origin scrubbed its New Glenn NG-2 mission due to weather concerns. It wasn’t the only issue the company ran into during the countdown, but why did weather specifically cause the delay? And when will it launch again?

Blue Origin‘s launch window for its second New Glenn launch, which held NASA’s ESCAPADE mission inside its payload fairings, was at 2:45 PM ET. The company had until 5:11 PM ET to get the rocket off the ground, but after a handful of holds due to various reasons, the company announced the scrub, which cancels any planned launch attempts for the day, at about 4:19 PM ET.

NG-2’s launch was first delayed due to storms at the launch pad. However, Florida’s weather can be short-lived and is ever-changing throughout the day. So a delay of about 20 minutes allowed the rain at the pad to clear.

The mission was later delayed due to two issues not related to weather: a technical issue with the rocket’s ground system and a cruise ship that was inside the rocket’s launch path.

Before launches, companies work with the US Coast Guard to set up zones for boats to keep clear in case of failure during ascent. While the government shutdown has caused issues and delays in other parts of the aviation space, like airports, it’s unlikely it had anything to do with the cruise ship’s wayward path.

Details were not shared as to what part of New Glenn’s ground system was causing issues. However, during the launch team’s Go/No-Go poll at the T-16 minute point, it was mentioned teams were waiting on what sounded like “LVHD retraction.” This sounds like it could have been an arm between the New Glenn rocket and the support tower next to it.

If I had to guess, this could mean “Launch Vehicle Hydrogen Disconnect,” which would make sense to be the connections that fuel, defuel, and likely vent away hydrogen fuel on New Glenn’s second stage.

The official reason for New Glenn’s scrub was a violation of the cumulus cloud rule. These weather rules are created by the launch provider and given to the range to be monitored and enforced. The cumulus cloud rule would be triggered if the flight of the rocket during ascent made it fly through or near a cumulus cloud, potentially triggering a lightning strike.

When will New Glenn reattempt its launch?

Blue Origin did not provide a new potential launch date at the end of coverage today. This doesn’t mean it won’t be a simple 24-hour reset; however, that wording makes it seem like some work needs to be done to reattempt a launch.

NG-2 will be Blue Origin’s second launch of the New Glenn rocket and is also another attempt at landing its booster on its drone ship, Jacklyn. Success in getting NASA’s payload on its way to Mars and successfully sticking its booster landing would be a major win for the company attempting to chase SpaceX into greatness.