NASA postpones launch of 24 hours two spacecraft

A collapse in communication systems forced postponement for 24 hours, the launch of two spacecraft to study the Sun's influence on Earth's radiation belts and the surround. The U.S. space agency NASA had planned the departure of Atlas V Centaur booster rocket at 08.07 GMT from Station Cape Canaveral Air Force, on the central coast of Florida Atlantic.

Six minutes before launch time, a review of all systems detected a faulty headlight communications and weather observation eastern United States, and how the countdown suspended. The mission control initially delayed the launch until 08.25 GMT and finally decided to postpone it until tomorrow 08.27 GMT, Saturday, when shortly before the technicians of that period found that the failure persisted.

NASA meteorologists do not expect Tropical Storm Isaac, who by this time approaching the island of Hispaniola and heads to Florida, interferes with the release tomorrow. Once launched, the rocket propellant used and discarded its segments to take an hour and 31 minutes after takeoff, the two probes into orbit.

The mission is called RBSP (Radiation Belt Storm Probes) for its acronym in English, and aims to study the Van Allen belts, two giant plasma rings that surround the Earth. These areas are concentrated electrified particles that beyond the Earth's protective atmosphere dominate the Universe. In fact, 99% of the universe is made of electrified gas, known as plasma.

These rings are steroidal surface areas in which protons and electrons flow, spiral and lot, between the magnetic poles of the Earth.

The inner Van Allen belt extends from a few hundred miles above Earth to beyond the three thousand miles, and the outside between 15 000 and 20 000 kilometers.

RBSP probes are designed to analyze how the sun, in particular solar storms affect the Earth's environment at various scales of space and time.

The mission is part of the "Living with a Star" whose goal is the study of the fundamental processes that may have caused the Sun and that affect the entire solar system.

The two satellites, with rotation stabilized, must operate in difficult conditions, NASA said.

Other satellites orbiting in the region are scheduled to shut down their systems or protected when intense solar storms occur, but the RBSP mission will continue collecting information and therefore are built to withstand the bombardment of particles and radiation belts Van Allen.

Probes instruments provide measurements that scientists need to understand not only the origin of electrified particles, but also the mechanisms that give these particles their speed and energy.

Both probes have eccentric orbits RBSP almost identical, which cover the entire region of the radiation belts, and satellites will cross several times in the course of their duties. Probes octagonal weigh more than 635 pounds each and measure 1.85 meters wide and about 90 inches tall. The electric field sensors and magnetic poles extend over the probe away, you can generate your own electric and magnetic fields distort readings.