SPACE WIRE
NASA delays launch of two earth probing satellites
WASHINGTON (AFP) Dec 18, 2002
The launch of two research satellites has been delayed until January due to a technical glitch in the Boeing-manufactured launch vehicle, NASA said Tuesday.

The launch of ICESat and CHIPSat, scheduled to be launched by a Delta II rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, on Thursday is now targeted for January 8 at the earliest, NASA said in a statement.

"The technical problem is associated with the signal the ordnance box provides for launch vehicle devices to unlatch and separate the payload fairing," the statement said.

NASA is expecting the replacement of this unit to take approximately two weeks.

The first satellite, ICESat (Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite), will use a sophisticated laser to measure the thickness of the Earth's polar ice caps.

It will be placed into orbit 373 miles (600 km) high.

The second, CHIPS (Cosmic Hot Interstellar Plasma Spectrometer), is a suitcase size satellite weighing about 132 pounds (60 kg), designed to study the formation of stars, and will have a life span of about one year.

It will be placed in orbit 367 miles (590 km) high and will carry a spectrometer to study very hot, low density gas in the far reaches of the cosmos.

Scientists believe the seemingly empty space between the stars contains the seeds of future stars. All the stars we are able to see are believed to have been formed from the same interstellar gas as it cooled, but the actual birth process of a star continues to be one of astrophysics' most intriguing mysteries.

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