Mary-Louise Hoffman
NASA has postponed the launch of a satellite system that will collect weather data to aid hurricane forecasting due to a glitch on the L-1011 Stargazer carrier aircraft’s component that was designed to release Orbital ATK‘s Pegasus XL rocket for the mission.
The Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System‘s launch was originally scheduled to occur Monday at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida and was pushed back to Wednesday morning, NASA said Monday.
The agency added the new schedule will allow Orbital ATK to deliver the replacement for the L-1011 component from Mojave, California, to the launch site and address the necessary crew rest requirements.
AÂ hydraulic system that operates the mechanism to release the Pegasus rocket functioned properly during the carrier aircraft’s pre-flight assessments, according to NASA.
NASA will open a one-hour window for the CYGNSS mission Wednesday at 8:20 a.m. Eastern time, with the rocket scheduled for deployment over the Atlantic Ocean from the L-1011 airplane by 8:25 a.m.
CYGNSS is a constellation of eight microsatellites designed to measure ocean surface winds over the life cycle of hurricanes and tropical storms.
