A blasting air conditioner has damaged NASA’s Cassini spacecraft and probably will delay its launch next month on a nuclear-powered mission to Saturn.
Program manager Richard Spehalski said Wednesday it will take at least a week to remove the spacecraft from the launch pad and repair the ripped insulation.
Cassini is supposed to be launched Oct. 6 on the $3.4 billion mission to explore Saturn, its rings and moons.
If the launch is bumped beyond Nov. 4, the spacecraft will arrive at Saturn months or possibly even years late because of the planets’ shifting positions. As it is, it will take Cassini seven years to reach Saturn.
The U.S.-European project has been criticized because of the 72 pounds of highly radioactive plutonium that will be used to provide electrical power for Cassini during its 11-year mission.
