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Launch of NASA Satellite Aura Delayed Again

Posted on: Wednesday, 14 July 2004, 06:00 CDT

Launch of NASA satellite Aura delayed again

WASHINGTON, July 13 (Xinhua) -- NASA postponed the launch of its satellite Aura again Tuesday because of an unknown problem with a recorder aboard the craft, which is designed to study pollution and the health of Earth's atmosphere.

Reports reaching here said a problem with a solid-state recorder aboard the Aura was detected about 30 minutes before lift- off at the Vandenberg Air Force Station in California. NASA said the problem could not be resolved in time for the launch, and a new launch date would be determined later in the day.

It was the third time in less than a week NASA had to delay the launch. The launch was originally scheduled for Saturday, but was delayed a day and then two days more because of technical problems.

Aura, managed by the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, was built for NASA by Northrop Grumman Corp.. The craft will be brought into orbit 705 km above the Earth, by a two-stage Boeing Delta II rocket.

The six-year, 785 million-US dollar mission is expected to determine the composition of Earth's atmosphere in unprecedented detail. It is a part of NASA's first series of Earth Observing System satellites. Two other parts of the system are already in orbit: the Terra satellite, for the study of land, and Aqua, for the study of water.

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