Two more problems have forced an additional delay for the launch of a Lockheed Martin Atlas 2 rocket from Cape Canaveral.
The rocket was scheduled to go up early Monday morning but was scrubbed on Sunday after a test of a guidance system similar to the one used in the rocket failed.
Lockheed has not yet decided whether the failure has any implications for the launch, as all of the components in the rocket, including the guidance system, had already been cleared.
Regardless, Hurricane Floyd, which is bearing down on Cape Canaveral, will likely keep the rocket grounded until next week at the earliest.
The Atlas was scheduled to take up a communications satellite for EchoStar Communications Corporation, a satellite television provider. The satellite is to expand EchoStar's DISH network.
A spokeswoman for Lockheed Martin, Julie Andrews, said the avionics box, part of the rocket's guidance system, had already been cleared for launch when a factory test of a separate unit failed over the weekend.
In the interest of safety, she said, mission controllers postponed the launch.
"In the launch business, we do everything we can possibly do to make sure that the rocket is going to perform successfully," Andrews said. "I don't see this as unusual. You run every problem to the ground."
No backup launch date had been set because of the threat of the hurricane, which might hit the Florida coast. Depending on the damage of the hurricane at Cape Canaveral, the Atlas could go up next week, Andrews said.
"In this case the hurricane supercedes everything," she said.
The launch was previously postponed last week, when lightning struck the launch pad.
The Atlas rocket has been grounded since questions about its upper-stage engines surfaced in May. Then, a Boeing Delta 3 rocket, which has a similar upper-stage engine, exploded on launch.
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