The launch of a climate research satellite from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California has been scrubbed due to high winds over the launch site north of Los Angeles, NASA says.
While conditions at the launch site appeared good, data from weather balloons suggested a wind shear at an altitude of 34,000 feet, and when conditions did not improve NASA and the United Launch Alliance decided on a 24-hour delay, pushing the launch to Friday.
There were no technical problems with either the Delta 2 rocket or its payload, the Soil Moisture Active Passive satellite, officials said.
The SMAP satellite is designed to map water, whether frozen or liquid, in topsoil around the globe.
Researchers say such data will allow them to improve timely weather forecasts and provide better understanding of floods, droughts and other climate phenomena.
The satellite will create a map of soil levels around the world, updated every 3 days.
"What the soil measurements will do is improve our weather forecasts, improve our assessments of water availability and also address some issues dealing with long-term climate variability and assessments of the impact of human intervention in the global environment," said Dara Entekhabi, SMAP science team leader.
After its launch, the $916 million satellite will unfurl a giant 20-foot mesh antenna, the largest of its kind ever put into space, to measure moisture in the top 2 inches of soil everywhere on Earth as it orbits at around 425 miles high.
Each orbit, which will take it around Earth's poles, will take around 99 minutes with the satellite's antenna mapping out a 620-mile-wide path of the ground below.
The 2,000-pound SMAP will be able to "see" the moisture in soil using a powerful radiometer, emitting microwaves that can penetrate clouds, vegetation and the first few inches of earth to gauge its water content.
SMAP will join 18 other NASA missions, some on satellites and some that are ground-based, all designed to record and map the environment in great detail.
Its mission is designed to last 3 years, yielding data to help scientists understand the vital role ground moisture plays in the Earth's cycles seen as critical to life.
"Soil moisture is a key part of the three cycles that support life on this planet: the water cycle, the energy cycle and the carbon cycle," said NASA SMAP program executive Christine Bonniksen. "These things affect human interest: flood, drought, disease control, weather."
