Partial success for Blue Origin: the New Glenn launcher was recovered, but a satellite was lost in orbit

Blue Origin, the space company founded by Jeff Bezos, experienced mixed success Sunday with the launch of its New Glenn rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida. While the reusable first stage landed successfully, demonstrating the company's technical recovery capabilities, the mission failed to properly place its satellite into orbit.

The rocket lifted off at approximately 7:25 a.m. Eastern Time (11:25 GMT), marking the third launch from New Glenn. About ten minutes after liftoff, the booster returned to land as planned, confirming Blue Origin's ambitions to compete with the reusable technologies already mastered by its direct competitor, SpaceX.

However, the mission was marred by a major problem with the BlueBird 7 satellite, developed by AST SpaceMobile. According to the company, the rocket's upper stage failed to place the satellite into its intended orbit, leaving it at an altitude too low to operate.

In a statement, AST SpaceMobile clarified that the satellite had successfully separated from the launch vehicle and been activated, but that its insufficient altitude prevented it from effectively using its onboard propulsion system. Consequently, the spacecraft will have to be deorbited, prematurely ending its mission.

This satellite was part of an ambitious project to create a communication network capable of connecting directly to smartphones from space, similar to initiatives led by Amazon with its Kuiper project or SpaceX with Starlink. This failure thus represents a setback for the development of these space-based telecommunications infrastructures.

This launch illustrates the growing competition between Blue Origin and SpaceX, two giants of the private space sector. While Blue Origin has demonstrated significant progress in launcher reuse, the reliability of its orbital launches remains a crucial issue for maintaining a lasting presence against its competitors.