CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., June 8 (UPI) -- Storms on Sunday forced NASA to delay the planned launch of a Delta II rocket carrying the robot rover, Spirit, that will search Mars for evidence of water.
Storms gathering over Cape Canaveral forced officials to abort the launch, which has been tentatively rescheduled for Monday. The National Weather Service, however, is predicting stormy weather again Monday with only a slightly better outlook on Tuesday.
A second rover, called Inspiration, is scheduled to take off for the red planet later this month. Both are scheduled to arrive on Mars in January.
The twin rovers are smaller than golf carts and worth an estimated $800 million.
There are already satellites on Mars belonging to Europe and Japan and two U.S. satellites are orbiting the planet.
Scientists say the new rovers will offer a much better view of Mars than anything to date along with analysis of materials from the planet's ground level.
