Space and Planetary Scientist Andy Lound has revealed the “critical” setback to Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin space programme after one of its rockets exploded on the launchpad.
The massive explosion, with a titanic mushroom cloud painting the sky orange, was captured in a dramatic video.
Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket had been firing its engines at full thrust as part of a “wet” dress rehearsal at Cape Canaveral in Florida.
It had been undergoing testing as part of the NG-4 mission, which was set to launch satellites for Mr Bezos’s Amazon.
Mr Lound explained the explosive failure was: “Part and parcel of the game in rocketry and spaceflight in general, unfortunately.”
However, he warned that the consequences for Mr Bezos’s space project were “quite serious”.
“He's got to get this heavy launch vehicle up and running because the Artemis program, which has now been laid out nicely, is reliant heavily on SpaceX and Blue Origin rockets to actually do this.
“It's absolutely critical,” he stressed.
Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket dramtically exploded on the launch pad
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“The New Glenn is a very, very strong heavy lift vehicle. And that's actually needed to put landers on the surface of the moon, hopefully starting later this year.
“So it's an absolute critical element.”
Mr Lound added that the rocket was also intended to “launch 48 satellites for Amazon next week, which obviously isn't going to happen”.
“More serious than that, though, is the damage that's been caused to the launch site, LC 36.
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Space and Planetary Scientist Andy Lound explained the huge impact the explsion will have on Jeff Bezos's space project
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“This is the only launch site which can launch the New Glenn rocket.
“So the New Glenn rocket is grounded anyway, as they sort the problem out.
“It will remain grounded until they rebuild or repair the whole launch site.
“That's more serious than anything else, really, because that's got to be put back into place,” Mr Lound said.