Blue Origin Launch: Is Jeff Bezos Competing with Elon Musk in the Billionaire Space Race? | Science, Climate & Tech News

Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin is preparing for the first launch of its new space rocket, a significant step in the billionaire space competition.

The New Glenn rocket is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 1am US eastern time (6am UK time) today – a culmination of a multi-billion dollar, decade-long initiative that may pave the way for Amazon’s satellite constellation project and challenge Elon Musk’s market dominance.

Mr Musk’s SpaceX has long been a leader in this field, but both Mr Bezos and Virgin Galactic founder Sir Richard Branson have ambitious plans for space exploration and the wealth associated with it.

Jeff Bezos and Blue Origin

“Since I was five, I’ve dreamed of going to space,” Mr Bezos expressed before embarking on his journey to the edge of space in 2021.

He established Blue Origin with the vision of having “millions of people living and working in space.”

Over the years, the company has successfully launched and landed its reusable New Shepard rocket from the edge of Earth’s atmosphere, but it has yet to achieve an orbital launch. That could potentially change today.

Blue Origin aims for its New Glenn rocket to compete with SpaceX’s Falcon 9, the most frequently launched rocket globally.

In comparison to Mr Musk’s Falcon 9, the New Glenn is approximately twice as powerful and features a payload bay diameter that is double in size, enabling it to accommodate larger groups of satellites.

This imminent launch is also a critical certification flight necessary for the US Space Force before New Glenn can undertake national security missions, as part of lucrative government contracts that Blue Origin intends to pursue.

Elon Musk and SpaceX

“I want to die on Mars – just not on impact,” Elon Musk humorously remarked.

The entrepreneur, often seen in his “Occupy Mars” shirt, has maintained a dominant position in the private space sector through SpaceX.

In 2016, Mr Musk unveiled his plan to establish a colony on Mars “in our lifetimes,” with aspirations for the first human rocket launch to the Red Planet by 2025; however, that goal now seems unlikely to be achieved.

For many years, SpaceX promoted an image of Mars undergoing terraformation (becoming Earth-like) in its marketing campaigns. However, a NASA-funded study from 2018 deemed these plans unfeasible with the existing technology.

SpaceX’s missions have included both government contracts and launching the Starlink satellite internet service.

While Mr Bezos’s New Glenn rocket is significantly more powerful than the current Falcon 9, SpaceX’s forthcoming Starship, a fully reusable rocket system in development, promises to be even more formidable.

According to Mr Musk, Starship is vital for expanding Starlink’s operational range in orbit. Its next test flight is anticipated later this month, involving the deployment of mock satellites.

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Sir Richard Branson and Virgin Galactic

Also aiming for a share of the space market is Virgin founder Sir Richard, whose Virgin Galactic sent its first tourists to the edge of space in 2023.

The crew transported passengers about 55 miles (88km) above Earth where they experienced weightlessness during the flight that lasted just over an hour.

“My mother taught me to never give up and to reach for the stars,” said the British billionaire.

As of October last year, the company is on hold for flights as it works on developing new spacecraft, with plans for its new Delta vehicles to recommence commercial spaceflights by 2026.