The launch of a Taurus rocket carrying a U.S. government research and development satellite has been further postponed over an ongoing dispute with French Polynesia that one stage of the launch vehicle could strike an inhabited, coconut-studded south Pacific atoll.

The Multi-spectral Thermal Imager (MTI) satellite was set to launch on February 28 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

Just days before the launch, however, the French Polynesian government alerted the U.S. Air Force that the island of Maria and its 200 inhabitants lies within a 300-square-mile (780-square-kilometer) impact zone where the rockets second stage will likely come down. The stage technically the rockets third is 10 feet (3 meters) long.

Although the island, smaller than 0.4 square miles (1 square kilometer) had been listed as uninhabited in a United Nations registry, the Air Force called off the launch.

Since then, the issue has not been resolved, further postponing the launch to no earlier than March 12, said Master Sgt. Tyler Foster, a Vandenberg spokesman.

At present, several options for continuing are being discussed, said 1^st Lt. Colleen Lehne of the Air Force Space and Missile Center.

Those include: evacuating the island; adjusting the burn time of each of the rockets four stages; and completely de-stacking the Taurus to alter its trajectory during the 12 minutes it will take to ferry the MTI into orbit.

The last option could force a delay of at least a month, said Barron Beneski, a spokesman for Taurus manufacturer Orbital Sciences Corp.

Replacing the satellites batteries, which can last only through March 15, could force further delays, Foster said.

The satellite should test the ability to spot from space the telltale signs of weapons production, such as cooling ponds alongside nuclear reactors and traces of dust associated with the processing of uranium ore.

Coincidentally, one of the closest islands to Maria is Muroroa, where the French have tested nuclear weapons since 1966.

Confirmation that MTI can spy from space on sites that are readily identifiable from the ground could then lead to future satellites that could be pressed into the hunt for previously unknown or undisclosed weapons factories across the globe.

The satellite will also be able to map chemical spills, vegetation health and volcanic activity. More than 100 researchers drawn from 50 different defense and civilian agencies intend to work on MTI-gathered data.

The launch will be the fifth of an Orbital Sciences Corp. Taurus rocket.

French Polynesia is a French overseas territory, made up of approximately 120 tropical islands, the largest and most populated of which is Tahiti.

"We are all looking at launching this as quickly as possible, knowing however that safety is paramount," Beneski said.