Blue Origin reached a pivotal milestone this week as its heavy-lift New Glenn booster, aptly named "Never Tell me the Odds," successfully touched down on a recovery ship following its second flight. The landing, marked by the characteristic plume of fire and smoke of a vertical descent, validates the company’s push toward rapid reusability—a feat essential for competing in a launch market currently dominated by SpaceX’s established flight cadence.
The technical triumph of the recovery, however, was quickly overshadowed by the failure of the mission’s primary objective. While the first-stage separation and subsequent landing went according to plan, the rocket’s upper stage failed to deliver its payload—a communications satellite for AST SpaceMobile—to the intended altitude. Blue Origin initially described the result as an "off-nominal orbit," a euphemism that signaled trouble for the satellite's longevity.
In a subsequent statement, AST SpaceMobile confirmed that while the satellite is powered on and communicating, it is too low to sustain operations. Lacking the necessary thrust to climb to its intended station, the craft is destined to de-orbit and burn up in the atmosphere. Though the financial loss is expected to be covered by insurance, the mission serves as a sobering reminder that in the delicate physics of orbital delivery, a perfect landing on Earth does not always guarantee success in the stars.
With reporting from Engadget.
Source · Engadget
