Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Antares rocket was scheduled to blast off on a mission to deliver supplies to the International Space Station tomorrow; but was delayed due to a massive solar flare.
Officials are concerned the amount of solar radiation could put the rocket at risk of destruction, a 4-traders news release reported. Orbital Sciences' chief technical officer, Antonio Elias worried the solar particles could interfere with the craft's equipment and cause malfunctions during the Jan. 9 launch.
The solar flare peaked Tuesday afternoon and has since calmed down, but experts worry there may be more activity to come. Officials plan to make a final decision as to whether or not the Antares rocket will launch by late Wednesday.
If the solar activity makes conditions too dangerous to launch officials plan to wait for the flare to calm down before re-attempting the delivery.
NASA assured the public that satellites and the six-person-crew aboard the International Space Station (ISS) were not in danger. NASA recently announced they will extend the space station's life to last until the year 2024 (it was set to retire in 2020). The Cygnus capsule is also equipped to withstand solar radiation.
Orbital has a contract with NASA and is set to launch 40,000 pounds of supplies to the ISS by the year 2016, NBC News reported. The currently delayed shipment which was to fly on the Cygnus spacecraft Orb-1, will carry 2,780 pounds of goods, NBC News reported.
"The solar flux activity that occurred late yesterday afternoon resulted in an increasing level of radiation beyond what the Antares engineering team monitored earlier in the day," NASA officials said, NBC reported. "Overnight, Orbital's engineers conducted an analysis of the radiation levels, but the Antares team decided to postpone the launch to further examine the potential effects of the space radiation on the rocket's avionics. The Cygnus spacecraft would not be affected by the solar event."
