An icy vent line may have caused Blue Origin to scrub debut launch of New Glenn

COCOA BEACH, Fla.—With 45 minutes left in a three-hour launch window, Blue Origin scrubbed its first attempt to launch the massive New Glenn rocket early on Monday morning. Throughout the window, which opened at 1 am ET (06:00 UTC), the company continued to reset the countdown clock as launch engineers worked out technical issues with the rocket. Officially, both on its live webcast as well as on social media following the scrub, Blue Origin was vague about the cause of the delayed launch attempt. "We’re standing down on today’s launch attempt to troubleshoot a vehicle subsystem issue that will take us beyond our launch window," the company said. "We’re reviewing opportunities for our next launch attempt." According to sources, the primary problem was likely ice clogging one of the vent lines that carry pressurized gas away from the vehicle. Several attempts were made to melt the ice, but these efforts were not successful, necessitating the scrub. Hopefully Blue Origin will provide more information about the cause of the scrub in the coming days.

To land, or not to land?

Additionally there appears to have been a problem with at least one of the auxiliary power units that provide power to the rocket after the engines shut off. One of the primary purposes of these APUs is to power the deployment of landing legs needed to make a soft touchdown on the company's droneship, Jacklyn. It was not immediately clear early Monday whether Blue Origin would have pressed ahead with the launch should it have had to land the first stage in the ocean rather than attempting a barge landing. In its statement, Blue Origin did not set another launch date. Because the company got deep into the countdown on Monday morning, there will likely be at least a 48-hour turnaround time. This is due to the need to resupply propellant at Launch Complex-36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Base in Florida. However, there are other factors at play as well. The company has been watching sea states all week for the droneship landing in the Atlantic Ocean, and some forecasts indicate they start to worsen a couple of days from now. How long it takes to address the technical problems with the rocket will also depend on how accessible they are on the launch pad. Finally, the current launch period for New Glenn closes on January 16. Although it may be disappointing that New Glenn did not lift off on Monday morning, technical issues are totally expected and normal with large, new rockets. It's not a slight on Blue Origin. The company certainly got some great data during the several hours of countdown and will now correct a couple of minor problems with the rocket before trying again soon.