14 DAY TRIAL // After suffering several delays due to the polar vortex-induced cold spell affecting half of the United States, the Antares delivery system that is supposed to carry the Orbital Sciences Corporation's Cygnus spacecraft on a resupply mission to the International Space Station has been grounded yet again.
This time, the interdiction to launch was put into effect due to a massive, X1.2-class solar flare that occurred on the Sun yesterday, January 7. While no official alerts were released, no one is willing to take any chances with the company's first fully-fledged mission to resupply the space lab.
Antares is currently at its launch pad, at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility, on Wallops Island, Virginia. The Cygnus unmanned capsule at its top holds 1,260 kilograms (2,780) pounds of experiments, spare parts, fuel, food, air, oxygen and personal items for the six members of the Expedition 38 crew.
“Early this morning the Antares launch team decided to scrub today's launch attempt due to an unusually high level of space radiation,” officials from OSC announced in a statement earlier today.
While space radiation are usually harmless, elevated concentrations such as those present around Earth after a solar flare can fry electronics, including equipment on rockets and the International Space Station, PhysOrg reports.