spacetoday.net: Technical problem postpones Vega launch

Posted: Tue, Apr 29, 2014, 6:37 AM ET (1037 GMT)
KazEOSat-1 illustration (Airbus Group)

A problem with a umbilical scrubbed Monday night's scheduled launch of a Kazakh remote sensing satellite on a Vega rocket. The launch of the DZZ-HR satellite, also known as KasEOSat-1, on a European Vega rocket was slated to take place at 9:35 pm EDT Monday (0135 GMT Tuesday) from Kourou, French Guiana. However, the launch was scrubbed less than a half-hour before launch when engineers noted "a non-compliant behavior of the payload’s ventilation umbilical" when the rocket's gantry was removed. A new launch date is expected to be announced Tuesday, after an inspection of the launch facilities. KazEOSat-1, built by Airbus Defence and Space for the government of Kazakhstan, is a 900-kilogram satellite than will provide imagery with resolutions of as sharp as one meter to support various civil applications.