Space X delays probe launch in historic mission to return rocket to Earth

The launch of a probe that will warn scientists of potentially disruptive solar winds has been postponed twice by its carrier Space X.

The private company cancelled its first attempt to launch the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) after discovering faults with its radar-tracking technology on Sunday afternoon (Monday morning Australian time).

A second attempt was abandoned due to bad weather at the launch site in Cape Canaveral, Florida on Monday at 6pm (10am Tuesday Australian time).

Officials from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said they were taking advantage of the extra time to replace a video transmitter on the satellite, as they await the next launch window.

The satellite will be launched by a Falcon9 rocket contracted by the US. Air Force.

Nicknamed after US politician Al Gore, “GoreSat” will take photos of the earth every two hours and orbit at a distance of 1.5 million kilometres from the planet.

The probe will measure solar winds, known as “mass coronal ejections”, which can damage satellites, aircraft flying near the north and south poles and electrical power grids.

A solar storm knocked out power in the Canadian province of Quebec for twelve hours on March 13, 1989.

A warning was issued to residents in Salt Lake City, Utah in September 2013 that solar flares could cause blackouts.

While billionaire Space X founder Elon Musk anticipates the latest launch, the company is celebrating after its unmanned Dragon cargo ship successfully returned to earth from the International Space Station (ISS).

The Dragon spacecraft was released from the ISS’s robotic arm and came down in the waters southwest of Long Beach, California around five and a half hours later.

The trip marked the company’s fifth official mission under a contract with NASA to supply food and gear to humans living in orbit.

After the probe is launched, operators will endeavour to return the Falcon9 rocket back to earth, in an ambitious attempt to deem the expensive technology “reusable”.

An attempt has already failed after the rocket exploded into a pillar of fire after losing hydraulic fluid during descent in January.

With AFP.