First Mars launch is rescheduled to June 8

By Blaine P. Friedlander Jr.

NASA has delayed the June 5 launch of MER-A, the first of two Mars Exploration Rovers, from Cape Canaveral, Fla., because the agency needed more time to review preflight details. The launch has been rescheduled for the afternoon of Sunday, June 8. The launch of the second rover, MER-B, is scheduled for June 25.

Steven Squyres, Cornell professor of astronomy, led the development of the mission's scientific payload, called Athena. The Athena instruments are the Pancam (panoramic camera), a microscopic imager, three spectrometers (Mössbauer, alpha particle X-ray and infrared) and a rock abrasion tool, or RAT, to scrape away the outer layers of Martian rock.

The two rovers, scheduled to bounce on to the planet's surface next January, promise to provide the best images and to conduct the most comprehensive geologic examination of Mars to date. The mission seeks to determine the history of the planet's climate, while searching for evidence of whether water once flowed on Mars and whether life once might have been possible there.

The launch vehicle for MER-A is a Delta II rocket. Depending on the weather, liftoff will take place at either 2:05 p.m. or 2:44 p.m. Eastern daylight time, from pad 17-A at the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral.

Live coverage of both launches can be seen on Time Warner's Educational Access Channel 16 or on the Internet at http://www.ksc.nasa.gov/nasadirect/index.htm.