Nasa delayed the launch of the shuttle

On December 6, NASA officials postponed the launch of the Atlantis space shuttle for at least 24 hours due to problems with the fuel sensor.

The technicians completed about 80% of the load of 227,000 kg of explosives pushing missiles into the large fuel tank outside the shuttle, the tests detected problems with 2 of 4 fuel sensors. at the bottom of the hydrogen liquid floor in the fuel tank.

Since the rules of the flight require at least 3 of the 4 sensors working to launch the ship, officials at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida canceled the flight on the scheduled day and started ready to launch again on October 7.

Alantis spacecraft and seven astronauts are scheduled to depart at 4:30 pm on October 6 bringing the space mission to bring a major European science laboratory named Columbus to the international space station. . According to the calculation of ideal weather conditions and no serious technical problems occurred before the problem with the sensor.

Doug Lyons, the shuttle operator, said: 'Of course we are a little disappointed about the event today, but we are certainly working hard to solve the problem smoothly and try to Do the best you can. '

Mr. Lyons also said a preliminary analysis showed that the problem involves an open circuit somewhere in the sensor system and it may not be in those sensors either. The technicians tried to find the cause of the problem to decide whether another launch could be made at 4:00 on Friday 7 October.

Weather forecasters predict weather conditions to be ideal for space flights on October 7.

The fuel in the shuttle's container will be sucked out and the responsible person will have a meeting later that afternoon on October 6 to determine the nature of the problem and try to launch the Alantis launch. after that.

Mr. Lyons added: 'We should not decide in a hurry'.

Experts say fuel sensors are part of a support system to ensure that the shuttle's three main engines are not interrupted too quickly or burned for too long during launch . Too fast disconnection during the 8-minute launch into space may make the shuttle unable to perform the correct orbit and the engines continue to operate. Meanwhile, if the fuel runs out can lead to a catastrophic explosion.

NASA had previously encountered problems related to sensors in several flights, especially after the Columbia ship disaster in 2003, when the shuttle system underwent many major changes. The sensor malfunction led to a delay of up to two weeks for the first shuttle launch after the Columbia ship incident in July 2005 and again in September 2006.

The most important goal in Atlantis' 11-day planned journey is to install the European Space Agency's new science laboratory into a space station in development. A module weighing 10296 kg, 7 meters long and 4.5 meters in diameter, will significantly increase the station's research capacity and demonstrate the important contributions of Europe to this project in particular and the space industry. international pillar in general.