Weather Delays Phoenix Mars Mission

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander won't blast off on the first day of its three-week launch window because of bad weather in Florida.

(TUCSON, Ariz.)—Stormy weather at Cape Canaveral delayed loading of fuel onto the Delta 2 rocket Tuesday, delaying by a least a day the first possible launch attempt. The next launch attempt is now set for 2:34 a.m. Saturday. Thunderstorms and lightning were forecast to move into the area during the time the fuel-loading operation was scheduled.

The Phoenix Mars mission, led by scientists at the University of Arizona in Tucson, will look for evidence of water beneath the planet's surface. The lander should arrive at Mars 10 months after it launches and touch down in the northern plains for its three-month mission. If successful, it will be the first time since the Viking missions three decades ago that a robot will drill beneath the Martian surface.

Once it lands, Phoenix will heat the soil samples in miniature ovens to study their chemistry. The lander can detect the presence of organics, although it won't be able to tell if there's DNA or protein, said principal investigator Peter Smith, a UA scientist.