CAPECANAVERAL, Fla. -- For the second straight day the launch into orbit offivesatellites by a former Soviet missile from Kazakhstan was scrubbeddue to unspecified technical reasons, according to Russian space officials.
TheDnepr1 launch vehicle, a modified and refurbished nuclear missile designatedby NATO as an SS-18 Satan, was to have launched from an underground siloat the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 6 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (10:00 GMT).
Butproblems during the final phase of the countdown forced managers to calloff the attempt early Saturday morning.
A newlaunch date has not been announced.A launchattempt on Friday was aborted within the last minute before liftoff, reportedlybecause of a computer glitch.
Althoughno details of this morning's scrub were announced, the indication was thatthe troubles were serious enough to suggest the launch has been indefinitelydelayed, making a Monday shot of a Russian government Proton rocket fromBaikonur the next launch.
Thecommercialsatellite delivery mission is to send into Earth orbit five satellitesfrom three nations, including:
- Two 22-pound(10-kilogram) research satellites, Saudisat 1A and 1B, for the Saudi Institutefor Space Research.
- A 22-poundUniSat microsatellite from the University of Rome La Sapienza that includesan experiment to study micro-particles in space and a small 3-mile (5-kilometer)resolution camera.
- A 119-pound(54-kilogram) Megsat 1 data-relay satellite for MegSat S.p.A., an Italiantelecommunications company. The spacecraft will store and relay data frommobile and stationary sensors.
- A 119-pound(54-kilogram) remote-sensing payload, TiungSat 1, for the Malaysian company,ATSB. The platform for the satellite was developed by the British CompanySurrey Satellite Technology Limited.
Lightsout for PlesetskInother Russian space news, reports are circulating within the northern Russianregion of Arkhangelsk that energy officials have cut off power to some700 businesses and organizations supported by the federal budget, includingthe Plesetsk Cosmodrome.
Onlyauxiliary systems of the Cosmodrome are getting power supply, accordingto the Ekho Moskvy radio station.
Thepast-due amount on the region's power bill is said to be almost 600 millionrubles, or about $21.6 million.
Plesetskis Russia's second major launch site and in the past was primarily usedby the military, although commercialmissions are now flown from there.
Inmany ways the relationship between Plesetsk and Baikonurparallels the relationship between Vandenberg Air Force Base in Californiaand CapeCanaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
MoscowContributing Correspondent Yuri Karash contributed to this story.
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