The launch of Europe's MetOp-A satellite, designed to improve monitoring of weather systems and climate, was postponed Monday due to problems with the Soyuz ST rocket, Russian space officials said. The exact cause of the delay was not announced.
The launch, which was set to go at 8:28 p.m. Moscow Time, has been rescheduled for the same time on Tuesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
MetOp-A is 17.6-meters (58 feet) long, including solar panels, and it weighs more than 4 tons. Considered the most complex satellite of its kind, it carries a dozen instruments to measure global weather patterns.
MetOp-A and two sister satellites, scheduled to be launched in the next few years, are designed to provide the highest quality data yet available for weather forecasting and climate monitoring.
The project, a cooperative effort of ESA, EUMETSAT and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, carries an estimated cost of 2.4 billion euros ($3 billion).
