Launch of latest Mars rover pushed back until tonight

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The launch of the latest Mars rover, delayed several times in the past two weeks, has been pushed back again.

NASA officials said late Saturday that battery problems forced the cancellation of Sunday night's planned launch of the rover Opportunity. NASA wants to try again tonight.

Work on an insulation problem with the cork that protects the aluminum skin of the Delta II Heavy rocket -- an issue that caused NASA to scrap plans for its Thursday launch of Opportunity -- was completed Saturday.

But a battery cell in the launch vehicle's flight termination system failed, forcing the latest postponement. The battery must be removed and replaced, NASA said.

NASA set July 15 as a deadline to launch Opportunity, but it is studying whether it could extend that by two days before Mars and Earth move too far apart for the spacecraft to reach Red Planet.

If it misses the launch opportunity, it will have to wait until at least November 2004.

Opportunity and its sister rover, Spirit, launched last month, will act as robotic geologists during their three months of exploration on the Martian surface.

The rovers are to arrive on Mars in January. They would send back images of sediment and mineral deposits that could help scientists determine whether there was ever enough water on the planet to sustain life.

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Mars Mission: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mer