I think the delay is because the amount of gravity assist changes because Jupiter is no longer idealy positioned. I doubt New Horizons would reach Pluto at all without the gravity assist.

That's why they call them (the best of them, anyway) "steely-eyed missile men."

But, to tell the truth, after it's all over, they go out and tilt back a few beers, themselves...

-the other Doug

Not true. The February 5th launch date is the very last date on which a Jupiter-assist trajectory can be achieved. The dates past Feb. 5 are for direct-to-Pluto trajectories without any gravity assist from Jupiter. Or from any other body, for that matter.

That's the reason the arrival dates shift so dramatically after Feb. 5. But it's awfully impressive that the Atlas V can place NH on a solar-system-escape trajectory, intersecting Pluto's orbit, without *any* help from a gravity assist!

-the other Doug

Yes, quite impressive.
Ugordan, thanks for your interesting explaination...

The US of A wasn't the only space-faring nation who couldn't get a space vessel off the ground yesterday...

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Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
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Launch Postponement of the Advanced Land Observing Satellite Daichi
(ALOS)/H-IIA Launch Vehicle No. 8

January 18, 2006
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency

The launch of the H-IIA Launch Vehicle No. 8 (H-IIA F8) with the
Advanced Land Observing Satellite Daichi (ALOS) onboard has been
postponed due to a malfunction found yesterday in a part of the launch
vehicle onboard equipment(*1) during the Y-1 operations(*2). We will
replace the malfunctioned part with a new one.

The launch was originally scheduled on January 19 (Thu), 2006 (Japan
Standard Time) from the Tanegashima Space Center.

(*1) Telemetry transmitter: the equipment to transmit flight status
data to ground stations

(*2) Operations one day prior to the launch day (The launch day is
over two days for the H-IIA F8; therefore, "one day prior to the
launch day" is actually two days before the launch day on a calendar.)

The new launch date will be announced as soon as it is determined.


* This information is also available on the following website:

http://h2a.jaxa.jp/index_e.html

This page URL:

http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2006/01/20060118_h2a-f8_e.html
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JAXA WEB SITE :

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SCRUB!

Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory suffered a power cut.

Try again tomorrow.

Nick

So what happened now?...did they forget to pay electricity bill?

Hmmm ... this isnt looking good for NH, how long do they have to launch before they miss the Jupiter flyby?

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18, 2006

1459 GMT (9:59 a.m. EST)

A management meeting is planned for 4 p.m. EST this afternoon to determine if the New Horizons control center in Maryland will be ready for a launch attempt tomorrow or whether more time is needed. The Atlas launch team is moving forward with a 24-hour scrub turnaround timeline to preserve the option of flying tomorrow.

1459 GMT (9:59 a.m. EST)

SCRUB! Today's launch attempt has been called off. The New Horizons mission control center at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory suffered a power outage this morning. The backup system using generators is not sufficient to proceed with the launch. So the first mission to Pluto will remain on Earth for another day.

Tomorrow's launch window extends from 1:08 to 3:07 p.m. EST.

http://spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av010/status.html

I think there's still plenty of time for Jupiter. From Alan's post back in December:



ISTR seeing a more detailed breakdown of the windows somewhere...

They'll get the Jupiter gravity assist if they launch before February 3; they've still got two weeks.

--Emily

There is a very large weather front traveling across the eastern United States. In a very unusual weather pattern for mid-January, there are scattered severe thunderstorms battering the U.S. east coast from New England all the way down to the Carolinas and Georgia.

Believe me, APL wasn't the only place that lost power as these storms passed through.

And I wouldn't guarantee that the weather will improve -- the storms are powered, as storms always are, by the temperature and pressure differential between two colliding air masses. The air pushing these storms eastward along the American continent is frigid, and much of the country has had high temperature swings, from one day to the next, of more than 20 degrees C.

-the other Doug

Interesting -- I heard Alan Stern say, in the 1/15 press briefing, that the last launch opportunity that allows a Jupiter gravity assist was the February 5th window.

They're re-running that press conference on NASA-TV every few hours... maybe someone can check me and tell me if my memory has suddenly developed terminal CRAFT?

-the other Doug

Ooops -- it suddenly occurs to me that he might have said that on the Discovery Science Channel special, "Passport to Pluto." I'll have to check that...

The context was that Alan was asked how long we could use Jupiter for a gravity assist. He said that the overall launch window for using Jupiter has been open for about two and a half years, but that it closes -- for good, as far as we're concerned -- on February 5th. He had a look on his face that spoke the unspoken addendum "and we managed to piss away almost the entire window!"

-the other Doug

I thought this only happened to "the other guys"...