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Lightning advisory delays Dawn spacecraft launch |
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16:26, July 06, 2007 |
The launch of the Dawn spacecraft, due to blast off on Saturday, was delayed by 24 hours because of a lightning advisory at the launch pad during a planned fueling operation, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said Thursday.
NASA said if weather permits, the Dawn spacecraft, carried by a Delta II rocket, is set to launch on Sunday in a window running from 4:04 p.m. (2004 GMT) to 4:33 p.m. local time (2033 GMT) from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Dawn will go into the asteroid belt that lies between Mars and Jupiter, taking a close look at Ceres and Vesta, two of the solar system's largest asteroids.
Scientists said the Dawn mission should provide a better understanding of the solar system's origins.
"If you want to understand the Earth, it is important to understand how it came to be and that's where asteroids come in. They are the building blocks," said Jay Melosh, a planetary geologist at the University of Arizona.
Source: Xinhua
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