July 14, 1999
Web posted at: 2:56 p.m. EDT (1856 GMT)

(CNN) -- The launch of a U.S. weather satellite aimed at backing up an aging pair of spacecraft that bring us daily cloud-cover and storm pictures on TV and Internet news suffered another setback this week.

Liftoff of the $250 million GOES-L satellite on an Atlas 2A rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, initially was set for May 15. The launch date kept creeping into the summer and now scientists say the spacecraft can be launched no earlier than October 5.

That is because an ongoing investigation into a rocket engine like that used on the Atlas 2A has pushed the launch date forward such that the sun-powered spacecraft would end up in a orbit eclipsed in darkness part of each day if it were launched between August 30 and October 5.

"To launch during that time would place the satellite into a risk situation that they would rather avoid," said Pat Viets, a spokeswoman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which operates the weather satellites.

"It means that for 72 minutes a day the Earth would be between the sun and the spacecraft, so there's not really sufficient sunlight for the satellite to operate optimally," she said.

The RL-10 engine is used on Lockheed Martin's Delta 3 rocket, which failed during a May 4 classified launch. Because that engine resembles that used on the Atlas 2A, all launches involving those two rockets are held up with the investigation into the cause of the failure -- thought to be an explosion in the engine made by Pratt & Whitney.

The 72-minute eclipses occur each spring and fall for all objects orbiting where the GOES weather satellites hover, 22,300 miles above Earth.

NOAA and NASA officials are working to find a new launch date for the newest weather satellite.

GOES-L is designed as a backup for the GOES-8 and GOES-10 satellites that take daily pictures of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans -- shots familiar to lay weather watchers -- as well as other measurements that are key to fresh weather forecasting.

GOES-8 was launched in 1994. "It's beyond its five-year contract life time," Viets said. "There are minor problems but there are no failure problems with it."

GOES-10 went up three years later. Both satellites are needed to operate at once to monitor hurricanes.

Another satellite already in space, the GOES-9, is only a quick fix if either of the primary satellites should fail. "GOES-9 was deactivated because it had problems," Viets said. "But basically our engineers are saying that, if needed, they could press that into service in an emergency."

Along with cloud photos and hurricane tracking, the satellites measure the amount of moisture in the air. Scientists also use GOES data to determine the extent of wild fires and study wind speed and direction.

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