The take-off of the Martian probe from the Emirates is postponed to July 17 due to weather conditions

The first attempt couldn't be. The launch of the Martian probe Al Amal from the Emirates was scheduled for tomorrow, Wednesday 15th July, at 12:51 and 27 seconds GMT - 05:51 and 27 seconds in the morning in Japan - but the rain prevented it from taking place at the aforementioned date and time. The Emirates Space Agency, the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries -the Japanese launch service company that manages the launch of the Martian probe Al Amal-, have just made public that the weather conditions that prevail over the Tanegashina Launch Centre make it advisable to suspend the launch of the H-IIA rocket planned for July 15th.

As the launch window is from July 15th to August 13th, the director of the Mitsubishi launch campaign together with the emirate authorities and the project manager of the probe, Omran Sharaf, according to the information and forecasts provided by the Japan Meteorological Service, have set as new launch date July 17th, at 22:43 Spanish peninsular time.

It is a fact that only a few hours before the postponement, the head of the launch campaign had given the order to open the door of the building where the H-IIA launcher was sheltered to move it to the launch pad. Once there, the next step was to fill the rocket's fuel tanks, a process that is carried out only a few hours before take-off and requires the strictest application of all safety measures, given the high danger of an explosion.

However, before the rocket left the building that was sheltering it, the rain appeared again, one of the premises that for safety reasons advised stopping the countdown to take off. The rain and the possibility of lightning strikes limit the operations of filling the tanks, restrict the observation capacity of the various cameras that monitor both take-off and the first minutes of the rocket's flight, and can disrupt and even cause the rocket's trajectory to fail. Bad weather has reigned in the area for weeks, causing heavy rains over Kagoshima Prefecture, where the city of Tanegashima and the space base are located.

The director of the space base's ground services team, Keiji Suzuki, was concerned, but was confident that the rainy season would end in time for the launch, which is scheduled at a time when the Earth and Mars are better aligned. A second chance comes on Friday, July 17.