By Mari Yamaguchi
The liftoff of the United Arab Emirates' Mars orbiter was postponed until Friday due to bad weather at the Japanese launch site.
The orbiter named Amal, or Hope, is the Arab world's first interplanetary mission. The launch was scheduled for Wednesday from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan, but the UAE mission team announced the rescheduled date on Twitter.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' H-IIA rocket will carry UAE's craft into space. Mitsubishi launch official Keiji Suzuki had said on Monday a postponement was possible as intermittent lightning and rain were forecast over the next few days.
Heavy rain has fallen for more than a week in large areas of Japan, triggering mudslides and floods and killing more than 70 people, most of them on the southern main island of Kyushu.
Hope is set to reach Mars in February 2021, the year the UAE celebrates 50 years since its formation. A successful Hope mission would be a major step for the oil-dependent economy seeking a future in space.
Hope carries three instruments to study the upper atmosphere and monitor climate change and is scheduled to circle the red planet for at least two years.
Emirates Mars Mission Project Director Omran Sharaf, who joined Monday’s briefing from Dubai, said the mission will provide a complete view of the Martian atmosphere during different seasons for the first time.
Two other Mars missions are planned in the coming days by the U.S. and China. Japan has its own Martian moon mission planned in 2024.
The Biden administration has announced sweeping new pandemic rules for federal workers and some contractors.
U.S. regulators have taken action that will make it easier to get a cheaper and similar version of a brand-name insulin at the drugstore.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reversing course on some masking guidelines. The agency announced new recommendations Tuesday that even vaccinated people should return to wearing masks indoors in parts of the U.S.
Vaccine Mandates, Osaka Out & LeVar Burton Takes Jeopardy!
New York City will require all municipal workers to get coronavirus vaccines by mid-September or face weekly COVID-19 testing.
Team USA's Uneven Start, Optimism Plummets & 'Old' Stuns Box Office
The flame at Tokyo’s National Stadium and another cauldron burning along the waterfront near Tokyo Bay throughout the games will be sustained in part by hydrogen, the first time the clean fuel source will be used to power an Olympic fire.
Australia has garnered enough international support to defer for two years an attempt by the United Nations’ cultural organization to downgrade the Great Barrier Reef’s World Heritage status because of damage caused by climate change.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, along with three civilians, launched into space aboard a rocket and capsule developed by his private spaceflight company, Blue Origin. The highly-anticipated, historic flight lasted for about 11 minutes. This comes after Sir Richard Branson flight with Virgin Galatic nine days ago. Senior national correspondent from POLITICO Bryan Bender joined Cheddar News to discuss what the launch means for the future of space tourism.
The Canada goose isn't native to Long Island, New York but now flocks of them are permanent residents. While most are migratory, some have made their homes in the area especially as more wild areas turn into green spaces for parks, housing developments, and businesses. Long Island Geese Control has found a solution to get rid of the birds without using chemicals or harming them: They send in specially trained border collies to chase them away. President and CEO Bill Alemaghides joined Cheddar News to tell us more.
