/ 31 January 1999

SUNSAT ROCKET BREAKS

SOUTH Africa’s first home grown satellite is set to spend at least the next 10 days earthbound after yet another aborted launch. Sunsat, developed at Stellenbosch University, was to have been launched last year, but continual weather problems have seen the launch delayed innumerable times. The latest scheduled launch, on Thursday, was aborted after one of the engines of the Delta II rocket carrying the satellite failed to ignite.