Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Mars Orbiter Launch Delayed

Posted by Zonk on from the waiting-for-major-tom dept.

Mictian writes "NASA's newest Mars probe, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), was originally scheduled to be launched from Kennedy Space Center Wednesday morning atop an Atlas 5 rocket. However a potential problem with the Atlas' Redundant Rate Gyro Units (RRGUs), that are part of the vehicle's flight control system, detected at Lockheed Martin's factory has caused the engineers to make sure that the two RRGUs in MRO's rocket are working, thus delaying the launch at least until Thursday morning. There is a 1.5 hour launch window daily until the end of the month."

3 of 98 comments (clear)

  1. Its just a minor delay by Saggi · · Score: 3, Insightful

    They expect to launch Thursday morning.

    But its better to wait one dya, than loosing a big rocket, just to stay on shedule. Better be safe, than sorry.

    --
    -:) Oh no - not again.
    www.rednebula.com
    1. Re:Its just a minor delay by nacturation · · Score: 3, Insightful

      But its better to wait one dya, than loosing a big rocket, just to stay on shedule.

      That's okay... they'll wait one dya, fix the porblem, and then let loose the rocket.

      --
      Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
  2. Re:Hopefully Thursday by frgough · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You'd wind up with the R101 Airhsip, version 2. It would be over deadline, overbudget and crash on liftoff.

    The best way to get a horrible result is to remove all restrictions.

    --
    You can tell the character of a man by observing those who hate him.