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Space

Software glitch delays Mars probe launch

December 9, 1998
Web posted at 5:04 p.m. EST
Technicians prepare the Mars orbiter for launch at NASA's Kennedy Space Center earlier this year   

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) -- NASA said Wednesday it was delaying the launch of a Mars probe by one or two days to fix a computer software bug.

"We found a problem. We absolutely want to go ahead and fix it," the spacecraft mission director John McNamee told a news conference.

The Mars Climate Orbiter had been scheduled to begin a 9 1/2 month voyage to the red planet on Thursday. NASA hoped to announce a new launch date later Wednesday.

The software problem, which was uncovered during final prelaunch check, could have led to the spacecraft's batteries being overcharged, McNamee said.

"It's a little disappointing having to wait a thousand days since the start of this project to launch, so I guess one additional one is not going to kill us," he said.

NASA has until December 25 to dispatch the orbiter while the Earth and Mars are favorably aligned.

The probe will map the rugged Martian landscape from an altitude of 262 miles and will also serve as a communications relay for a Mars lander scheduled for launch on January 3.

The twin Mars probes are part of a 10-year NASA effort to determine if life exists on the planet. The first two probes in the series, Mars Pathfinder and Mars Global Surveyor, were launched in 1996.

Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

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