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NASA Reschedules Important Robotic Lander Test

A new date has been set for next week, officials at the agency say

Nov 4, 2011 11:34 GMT  ·  By
The Robotic Lander will aid NASA’s development of a new generation of small, smart, versatile landers for airless bodies such as the Moon and asteroids
   The Robotic Lander will aid NASA’s development of a new generation of small, smart, versatile landers for airless bodies such as the Moon and asteroids

A test that was supposed to take place today at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), in Huntsville, Alabama was postponed until next week. NASA wants to give its engineers more time to assess an error that occurred in its Robotic Lander Prototype.

The American space agency initially announced that the test flight, which was to take the spacecraft about 100 feet (30 meters) in the air, was to occur on Friday, November 4, at around 10:30 CDT (1530 GMT). However, before the test, engineers detected a problem with the machine' fuel usage.

NASA therefore decided to reschedule the important test flight for Wednesday, November 9. However, this date is also subjected to change, if the issues that affect the prototype prove to be more complex than initially assumed, SpaceRef reports.