NASA delays Space Coast launch to explore Earth’s upper atmosphere

The unusual mid-air launch of a NASA satellite destined to explore Earth’s upper atmosphere has again been delayed, this time for at least a week.

The satellite, NASA’s Ionospheric Connection Explorer, known as ICON, was scheduled to launch aboard a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket early Friday morning. The rocket rides under the belly of a plane, where it’s released and then launches mid-air.

The plane, an L-1011 Stargazer, and the Pegasus rocket arrived at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station last week from California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base in preparation for the launch, which was set to take place between 4 and 5:30 a.m. Friday. But NASA said Tuesday that it’s going to push the launch date back to conduct “further pre-launch testing” on the rocket.

After testing, a new launch date will be chosen, NASA said.

At an event at the Kennedy Space Center Wednesday, Pegasus’ senior director Bryan Baldwin said the problem arose when the team saw data it “wanted to take more time to understand” while bringing the rocket to the Space Coast.

“We’re tentatively looking at middle of next week for launch,” he said in a tweet issued by Northrop Grumman Wednesday afternoon.

The ICON satellite will study the ionosphere, the area of Earth’s atmosphere where terrestrial weather meets space weather. This is also the area where auroras occur. But the ionosphere can also cause disruptions in radio transmissions, satellites and astronaut health, NASA said. The ICON satellite will help the space agency better explore the ionosphere and mitigate its effects.

The ICON launch was originally set to take place in December 2017 but has been pushed back multiple times. In a statement Tuesday, NASA said the spacecraft “remains in good health.”