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SMAP satellite launch delayed again

NASA engineers will try again on Saturday to put SMAP into orbit.

By Brooks Hays

LOMPOC, Calif., Jan. 29 (UPI) -- NASA's fleet of Earth observation satellites will have to wait another day to welcome its newest member -- the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) observatory. After its initial Thursday launch was delayed 24 hours for high winds, NASA has now decided to push back Friday's rescheduled liftoff until Saturday.

The SMAP satellite's first blast off was originally scheduled for 9:20 a.m. EST Thursday. Now, it looks like California's Vandenberg Air Force Base won't see any action until Saturday at the earliest.

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Should conditions be more suitable this weekend, the satellite will ride into low Earth orbit atop a United Launch Alliance Delta 2 rocket. It will be deposited into an orbit somewhere between 410 miles and 426 miles from the Earth's surface.

The satellite is outfitted with two microwave instruments capable of measuring the globe's soil moisture is greater detail than ever before. The instruments will hone in on moisture levels in planet's topsoil, a factor that features prominently in influencing Earth's water, energy and carbon cycles.

"It's what is interacting with the terrestrial biosphere, with the vegetation. It's what is determining how much runoff occurs ... how much freshwater there is in the rivers and lakes. It's a tiny amount, but a very important amount," Dara Entekhabi, a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and lead scientists on the mission, said during a press briefing prior to the launch.

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The launch can be streamed live on NASA TV.

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