CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Bad weather continues to plague
NASA's experimental Ares I-X test rocket as the space agency tries to launch
the new booster on a critical test flight for the second day in a row.
The $445
million rocket's launch window opened at 8 a.m. EDT (1200 GMT), but high
clouds and countdown delays have kept it on the ground so far. Weather officer
Kathy Winters has predicted a 40 percent chance of conditions good enough to
launch today, so mission managers are still holding out hope that a break in
the clouds will come. NASA has until 12 p.m. EDT (1600
GMT) to try to launch Ares I-X today.
NASA is requiring good visibility and nary a cloud in sight
for this first flight of the untried rocket. If the rocket travels through high
clouds it runs a risk of triggering "trioboelectrification" - static
electricity that could interfere with sensitive onboard instruments.
Tuesday night a thunderstorm passed over the launch pad, and
about 150 lightning strikes were seen to fall nearby, with four strikes hitting
within about a half mile of the rocket. Wednesday's countdown was delayed while
crews checked out the rocket's systems to make sure they hadn't been impacted.
"We had to go verify a lot of things to verify the
rocket is still good to go fly," said Ares I-X deputy mission manager Jon
Cowart. "We looked at all the systems that could have been affected by
this and all the data indicates that there was absolutely no real effect."
A first launch try on Tuesday was
stymied by clouds, winds and the threat of rain. In addition to those concerns,
a stuck cover on one of the rocket's probes stalled Tuesday morning, further
delaying the countdown, and a freight boat later strayed into restricted waters
close to the launch pad, thwarting one launch attempt.
The mission is a trial run for the Ares I vehicle slated to
transport astronauts to low-Earth orbit and on to the
moon. This unmanned flight will be the first test of the rocket's design
and configuration, and engineers plan to analyze readings from over 700 sensors
on the booster to study its performance.
The 327-foot
(100-meter) tall rocket is designed to burn its engines for just over two
minutes, before its first and second stages separate and drop into the Atlantic
Ocean. Retrieval boats are in place to collect the solid rocket first stage,
which contains many of the sensors loaded with data from the trip. The dummy
second stage - designed to mimic the size and weight of the real stage intended
for Ares I - is destined to sink into the sea.
If NASA does not launch the Ares
I-X test rocket this week, it could be delayed until mid-November, mission
managers have said.
SPACE.com will provide full coverage of NASA's Ares I-X
test flight with Staff Writer Clara Moskowitz in Cape Canaveral, Fla., and
Managing Editor Tariq Malik in New York. Click
here for full mission coverage.
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