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	NASA Delays First Mars Rover Launch at Least Three Days By Jim Banke Senior Producer, posted: 04:00 pm ET 27 May 2003

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA's first of two missions destined for launch to Mars in June was delayed at least three days so more time could be spent on engineering reviews, officials said Tuesday.

Mars Exploration Rover-A (MER-A) -- a two-part spacecraft that includes a lander amd rover -- is now targeted to fly no earlier than June 8, said Kennedy Space Center spokesman Bruce Buckingham.

A June 8 liftoff would be targeted for precisely at 2:05:55 p.m. EDT (1805.55 GMT). A second launch opportunity exists at 2:44:07 p.m. EDT (1844.07 GMT).

Even as engineers and managers give their paperwork a final look, the spacecraft was hauled out to its launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and attached to the top of a Delta 2 rocket Tuesday morning.

The launch processing at complex 17 is continuing on schedule and mission managers hope to set a new official launch date on June 2 -- the same day the European Space Agency's Mars Express probe is to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

NASA has until June 19 to launch MER-A to the Red Planet. The MER-B spacecraft remains set to launch on June 25.

If all goes well during launch and months of cruise toward Mars, MER-A is set for landing on Jan. 4, 2004, with MER-B following on Jan. 25.

As now planned, the first rover is targeted to land at Gusev Crater, 15 degrees south of Mars' equator. The second is to touch down at Meridiani Planum about two degrees south of the equator and halfway around the planet from Gusev.

The two MER missions will seek to determine the history of climate and water at two sites on Mars where conditions may once have been favorable to life.

Both rovers are identical and carries five scientific instruments including a panoramic camera and microscope, plus a rock abrasion tool that will grind away the outer surfaces of rocks to expose their interiors for examination.

The rovers each weigh approximately 400 pounds. They will navigate themselves around obstacles as they drive across the Martian surface, traveling up to about 130 feet each Martian day.

Each rover's prime mission is planned to last three months on Mars.

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