NASA Aura mission in California delayed a third time

NASA's US$785 million (NZ$1.2 billion) Aura mission to study Earth's atmosphere was stranded on its California launch pad again on Wednesday, the third launch date this week missed because of technical problems.

Officials scrubbed the launch less than a minute before the scheduled lift-off after detecting a power fall-off in a battery aboard the Boeing Co Delta 2 rocket's second stage.

NASA launch director Chuck Dovale said another attempt was scheduled for Thursday at 6.02am EDT (10.02pm NZT) from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, though the date was under review.

Not only would the battery problem have to be resolved, but weather at Vandenberg, which has been excellent all week, is expected to deteriorate. There are also concerns about a storm system in the Gulf of Mexico that an Air Force tracking jet would have to fly though. This led NASA spokesman Bruce Buckingham to term the 24-hour turnaround "optimistic" at best.

The bus-sized Aura, built for NASA by Northrop Grumman Corp., is designed to monitor the health of the depleted layer of ozone gasses in the stratosphere that protect Earth from solar radiation. It will also track pollutants in the atmosphere to see where they travel and how they interact, NASA said.

- REUTERS