The launch of a European Ariane rocket, carrying a Japanese telecoms satellite, has been postponed for 24 hours due to bad weather, the European Space Agency (ESA) said Thursday.
Clouds over the launch site, the Kourou base in French Guyana, caused the delay in Wednesday's planned launch, ESA's marketing arm Arianespace announced.
If the weather conditions improve, the rocket will be launched during the next launch window between 10:04 p.m. and 10:55 p.m. Thursday (0104-0155 GMT Friday).
The Ariane rocket will take up the four-tonne Superbird-4 satellite, owned by Japan's Space Communications Corporation (SCC), placing it in geostationary orbit above the Pacific Ocean.
Superbird-4 is designed to provide digital TV transmission, data and Internet links across Japan.
