{"id":15727,"date":"2016-02-11T21:59:35","date_gmt":"2016-02-11T13:59:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/launch-of-japanese-x-ray-observatory-postponed\/"},"modified":"2016-02-11T21:59:35","modified_gmt":"2016-02-11T13:59:35","slug":"launch-of-japanese-x-ray-observatory-postponed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/launch-of-japanese-x-ray-observatory-postponed\/","title":{"rendered":"Launch of Japanese X-ray observatory postponed"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Ground
Ground crews prepare the Astro-H spacecraft for launch at the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan. Credit: JAXA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Japanese space agency said Thursday the launch of an X-ray astrophysics observatory is postponed from Friday due to a poor weather forecast at the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan.<\/p>\n

The Astro-H mission is awaiting launch aboard a Japanese H-2A rocket to begin a three-year mission observing black holes and measuring the structure of the universe with better precision than ever before.<\/p>\n

Led by the Japanese space agency \u2014 JAXA \u2014 with contributions from NASA, Europe and Canada, Astro-H will peer into regions of space near black holes to see how the immense gravitational tug from the massive objects distort spacetime.<\/p>\n

Carrying four instruments and two telescopes, the Astro-H satellite is the sixth in a series of Japanese X-ray missions launched since 1979.<\/p>\n

Astronomers will use Astro-H to study how clusters of galaxies \u2014 the largest structures in the universe \u2014 form and evolve over billions of years. Detections from Astro-H could also help scientists learn about the genesis of heavy elements, such as the carbon and oxygen essential for life, after the Big Bang.<\/p>\n

X-ray emissions from the cosmos can only be observed from a satellite in space because Earth\u2019s atmosphere blocks X-ray light from penetrating to the ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see X-rays from sources throughout the universe, wherever the particles in matter reach sufficiently high energies,\u201d said Robert Petre, chief of the X-ray Astrophysics Laboratory at NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center, and the U.S. project scientist for Astro-H. \u201cThese energies arise in a variety of settings, including stellar explosions, extreme magnetic fields, or strong gravity, and X-rays let us probe aspects of these phenomena that are inaccessible by instruments observing at other wavelengths.\u201d<\/p>\n

Packaged inside the nose cone of a Japanese H-2A rocket, the Astro-H satellite weighs 2.7 metric tons \u2014 nearly 6,000 pounds \u2014 with a full load of propellant.<\/p>\n

The mission was set for liftoff Friday at 0845 GMT (3:45 a.m. EST; 5:45 p.m. Japan Standard Time), but JAXA officials wrote on the agency\u2019s Twitter account the flight was grounded due to poor weather.<\/p>\n