WASHINGTON, January 29 (Sputnik) — The United States has postponed the Earth-observing Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite launch for 24 hours due to poor weather conditions, NASA said on its website Thursday.
The launch of the Delta II rocket carrying the satellite was scheduled to take place at 9.20 a.m. EST (2.20 p.m. GMT) on Thursday, and will now happen at 2.20 p.m. GMT on Friday.
"Launch Scrubbed Due to Upper level Winds," the statement on NASA's blog said.
The SMAP is the NASA's satellite mission designed to collect observations of the Earth's surface soil moisture and freeze/thaw state. The satellite will carry an active microwave radar and a passive microwave radiometer to obtain data with unprecedented accuracy, NASA said.
With this mission, NASA hopes to enhance the predictive skills of weather and climate models.
