$434million launch of Nasa's Glory Satellite abandoned five minutes before take off



The launch of Nasa's Glory Satellite was abandoned earlier today five minutes before take off, due to engineering problems.

The $424million mission has been postponed until tomorrow - the same day that Discovery will make its final ride into orbit.



Officials at a military base in central California delayed the launch of the Taurus XL rocket - which is carrying an Earth-observation satellite - as they met with some last minute technical difficulties.

Delayed: Nasa's Glory satellite spacecraft will measure the direct and indirect effects of atmospheric aerosols and of the Sun on Earth's climate

The rocket is slated for a three-year mission to analyse how airborne particles affect the Earth's climate.

Besides monitoring particles in the atmosphere, Glory will also track solar activity to determine the sun's effect on climate.

Data from the Glory mission will allow scientists to better understand how the sun and tiny atmospheric particles called aerosols affect the Earth's climate.



Both aerosols and solar energy influence the planet's energy budget - the amount of energy entering and exiting Earth's atmosphere.



An accurate measurement of these impacts is important in order to anticipate future changes to our climate and how they may affect human life.



Tech Sgt Ben Rojek of the 30th Space Wing at Vandenberg Air Force Base confirmed that the launch was scrubbed due to a 'technical engineering problem', which pushed back the launch by 24 hours.



He said a status console 'was trying to tell Nasa officials something they already knew,' indicating a problem with the system.

Technical difficulties: The $434million mission to study airborne particles spewed from volcanoes, dust storms, forest fires and the burning of fossil fuels has been delayed due to engineering problems

The mission is managed by Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.

The new launch will now come on the same day as Discovery, which should have been launched early November but was grounded for four months also due to last-minute problems.



The countdown never got past the fuelling phase when a hydrogen gas leak halted everything and they later discovered cracks in the external fuel tank.

Following this 11-day mission, Discovery will be retired and sent to a museum. Its final destination is expected to be the Smithsonian Institution. It is the oldest of the surviving space shuttles.

