(Updated) NASA's TROPICS mission launch delayed due to weather

Due to unfavourable weather conditions, NASA and Rocket Lab have deferred the May 22 launch of the second pair of TROPICS satellites to orbit. They are now targeting Tuesday, May 23, (5:00 p.m. NZST) for the launch of these storm-tracking CubeSats.

The Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats (TROPICS) will lift off on a Rocket Lab Electron rocket from Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand.

Live coverage will begin approximately 20 minutes before launch, at around 12:40 a.m. EDT on May 23, on NASA Television, the NASA app, the agency's website, and Rocket Lab's website.

🚀LAUNCH UPDATE 🛰🛰Due to weather, @RocketLab and @NASA are now targeting 1 am EDT Tues, 23 May (5 pm NZST) for the final TROPICS launch. Two #CubeSats are set to join a constellation to improve forecasting of typhoons and hurricanes. For updates ▶https://t.co/0f2AYIb3W9 pic.twitter.com/5zVNLhntUT

— NASA's Launch Services Program (@NASA_LSP) May 20, 2023

The upcoming launch will put two CubeSats in low Earth orbit, where they will join another pair of TROPICS satellites that made it to orbit last week. This full constellation will make observations more often than what is possible with the existing weather monitoring satellites.

The TROPICS constellation will study the formation and development of tropical cyclones, called hurricanes in the Atlantic and typhoons in the West Pacific, making observations of temperature, precipitation, water vapour, and cloud ice more often than what is possible with current weather satellites.

Update 1

NASA and Rocket Lab have deferred the launch of the TROPICS mission to Thursday, May 25 due to unfavourable weather conditions. The two satellites remain healthy and are now targeting no earlier than 12 a.m. EDT (4 p.m. NZST) for lift-off, NASA said on Sunday.