Vandenburg Schedules Launch Of Salinity-Tracking Climate Satellite For Friday

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Although another climate probe plunged into the ocean after a failed launch attempt from Vandenberg in March, engineers say Friday's launch involves a different type of rocket -- a Delta II instead of a Taurus XL -- and they expect no such problems.

A covering that protected the Glory climate satellite, called a fairing, failed to separate during launch, the probable cause of the crash.

"This particular fairing type has separated and placed satellites in orbit 57 times before this one," NASA Launch Director Omar Baez said in a press conference this week. "We have checked to make sure there's no crossovers between the hardware used on this vehicle to separate the faring to the Taurus XL system. We don't see any intersects."

Still, the launch was postponed from Thursday to Friday because of wind concerns, officials said Wednesday afternoon. The satellite to be launched Friday includes Aquarius, a large, disk-shaped instrument that will measure the salt content of the ocean surface by sensing the microwaves it emits.

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http://www.ocregister.com/news/launch-303665-ocean-climate.html