It must be Friday 13th…

As Brian has already posted, we have a launch delay on Herschel (and Planck). Problems always come up when these things are put together so it’s not entirely unexpected. The important thing, though, is that this is only a delay of 2 weeks and the problem that’s arisen is nothing to do with the satellites. We haven’t been sent the details yet but are told that it is something to do with the ‘ground segment’ ie. with what happens to the data once it’s been sent down to the ground. This is a lot easier to fix – this is reflected in the short delay – and the satellites are fine.

We just have to chew our nails a little bit longer.

Tags: launch