According to a statement from the Federal Aviation Administration, the SpaceX rocket launch scheduled for Tuesday afternoon at Vandenberg Space Force Base was forced to undergo stormwater inspections after an extensive power outage scrubbing.
NASA said in Post that the power outage in the Santa Barbara area destroyed telecommunications at the Los Angeles Air Route Traffic Control Center and created an “unlimited launch status.”
According to the FAA, the Control Center manages air traffic over 177,000 square miles of airspace, including the California coast, about 200 miles from Los Angeles to the San Luis Obispo, the Ventura area.
The decision came just 45 seconds before the rocket was launched, and SpaceX officials called “Hold, hold, hold. … We have suspended the launch today due to airspace concerns.”
“The FAA has taken this move to ensure the safety of the traveling public,” the government said.
The FAA also released ground stops at Santa Barbara Airport on Tuesday due to the power outage, the airport said in a statement. Flights are transferred and delayed. As of about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, a spokesman said that the airport had not yet recovered power, and he said he would lift the ground stop once it was restored to the area.
Additionally, power outages in Santa Barbara County have interrupted 911 services, according to KTLA.
As for SpaceX launches, the rocket and its payload are still in good condition.
There are two twin satellites on the rocket, part of the NASA Tracer mission – the tandem reconnection and the spike electrodynamic reconnaissance satellite.
The two satellites will study Earth’s magnetosphere by determining how magnetic explosions can bring solar wind particles into Earth’s atmosphere and how these particles affect space technology and astronauts.
NASA said the release of the release has been rescheduled to 11:13 a.m. Wednesday. It will be held at Vandenberg’s Space Launch Complex 4 East.
Last month, SpaceX transmitters that took off from the same location started the entire Southern California night sky.
