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NASA delays Mars rover launch to replace batteryNext available launch times on Monday night
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Florida (CNN) -- NASA has once again postponed the launch of its Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, to replace a battery aboard the rockets. In a statement released late Saturday, NASA said the launch of the golf-cart-sized, six-wheeled robot geologist -- scheduled for Sunday night -- would be delayed for a day so that the battery on the electronics box could be replaced and tested. The battery is used to blow up the rocket if it veers off course. The two launch times available for Monday are 10:35 p.m. and 11:18 p.m. EDT. Time for the mission is running out. The launch must take place by July 15. After that date, Earth moves too far in its orbit around the sun for the Delta rocket to make it to Mars. If Opportunity does not launch by the July deadline, the project would be delayed for four years -- the next time Earth and Mars are in the correct positions. Opportunity was originally scheduled for launch June 25 but was delayed because of the tight schedule after the launch of its sister craft, Spirit, June 10. Bad weather scuttled the second launch, set for June 29, and problems with the cork insulation further delayed the liftoff. On Saturday, technicians conducted a test of the thermal insulation which revealed that some of it had come loose, according to NASA spokesman George Diller. Despite the findings, NASA had planned to move forward with Sunday's launch. A successful liftoff would allow the robot to arrive January 25 on Mars' Terra Meridiani crater. Spirit will arrive on Mars January 4. Its destination is Gusev crater. Both sites appear to have been affected by liquid water in the past, NASA said. The launch of Opportunity will mark the first time since the 1977 Voyager missions that NASA is sending a pair of identical spacecraft on a planetary mission. The rovers are part of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, a long-term effort of robotic exploration of the red planet. One of the mission's primary goals is to look for and characterize a range of rocks and soils that hold clues to past water activity on Mars, NASA said. The space agency calls the rovers the mechanical equivalent of a geologist walking the surface of Mars, with cameras mounted about 5 feet high and capable of 360-degree views. The robotic arm can move in much the same way a human arm with an elbow and wrist moves, and it will place instruments directly against rock and soil samples of interest, NASA said. The robots also have a tool that serves the purpose of a geologist's rock hammer to expose the insides of rocks, NASA said. Should both robots reach Mars, they have a good opportunity to do their work. The red planet will be especially close to Earth after arrival, which means the robots will have good communication with Earth and can gather more scientific data. Mars is also closer to the sun, which results in more solar power. -- Journalist Philip Chien contributed to this report.
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