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ZL2VAL > SPACE 06.07.03 19:36l 57 Lines 2260 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 7604-ZL2VAL
Read: GUEST
Subj: NASA pushes Opportunity back, again
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Sent: 030706/1022Z @:ZL2AB.#46.NZL.OC #:24023 [New Plymouth] FBB7.00g $:7604-ZL
From: ZL2VAL@ZL2AB.#46.NZL.OC
To : SPACE@WW
Associated Press
July 6, 2003
CAPE CANAVERAL -- The scheduled launch of the latest Mars rover, which
has been delayed numerous times in the past two weeks, is being pushed
back again.
NASA officials said Saturday that battery problems forced the
cancellation of tonight's planned launch of the rover Opportunity.
The rover will not be launched before Monday night, NASA said in a
statement. There are two launch times available Monday night; 10:35 and
11:18 p.m.
Work on an insulation problem with the cork that protects the aluminum
skin of the Delta 2 Heavy rocket -- an issue that caused NASA to scrap
plans for its Thursday launch of Opportunity -- was completed to the
satisfaction of NASA engineers on Saturday.
But the failure of a battery cell associated with a component of the
launch vehicles flight termination system was discovered, forcing the
latest postponement. The battery must be removed and replaced, NASA
said.
NASA set July 15 as a deadline to launch Opportunity, but it is
studying whether it could extend that by two days before Mars and Earth
move too far apart for the spacecraft to reach the red planet.
If it misses the launch opportunity, it will have to wait until at
least November 2004.
Opportunity and its sister rover, Spirit, launched earlier this month,
will act as robotic geologists during their three months of exploration
on the Martian surface.
Plans call for the rovers to arrive on Mars in January. Officials plan
for the rovers to send back images of sediment and mineral deposits
that could help scientists determine whether there was ever enough
water on the planet to sustain life.
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73 de Alan
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I was thinking about how people seem to read the Bible a whole lot
more as they get older; then it dawned on me . .they're cramming for
their final exam.
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