Cross-winds stop NASA Mars launch in Florida ( 2003-06-29 14:39) (Agencies)
NASA postponed the launch Sunday of a robot destined to explore for long
vanished water sources on Mars because of strong cross-winds in Florida.
NASA stopped the countdown shortly after midnight, just minutes away from
liftoff, having already delayed it earlier when a fishing boat wandered into a
restricted area near the seaside launch pad.
"These were all issues that had nothing to do with the condition of the
launch vehicle," George Diller, a NASA spokesman, said.
The space agency will try again Sunday night with a new launch time of 11:46
p.m. EDT.
A Delta 2 rocket holds the second of two robotic rovers, golf-cart sized
robots built to spend at least three months exploring the Martian surface.
The second Mars rover, nicknamed Opportunity, is set to join its twin,
Spirit, which launched June 10, on a seven-month journey to the Red Planet.
They are expected to arrive in early January.
On Earth, life exists wherever natural sources of water are found, which
accounts for the space agency's keen interest in ancient sources of Martian
water.
NASA does not expect the rovers to find life. But if the robots succeed in
unearthing evidence of water sources, scientists might be able be able to know
if water that boiled away eons ago survived long enough to generate life.
The six-wheeled rovers have the ability to scoop up soil and drill into
rocks, then examine the samples.
Data will be sent back to Earth for analysis by scientists at the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, where the mission control will be
located.
The twin missions will join European and Japanese spacecraft already on their
way to Mars.
All of the missions are taking advantage of a rare proximity between the
planets -- with just 85 million miles for Sunday's launch, Mars is making its
closest approach to Earth this summer in 15,000 years. That cuts the normal
travel time from nine or 10 months to seven.
