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The following information has been received from NESDIS management. "The launch date for NOAA GOES-L has now been delayed to no earlier than the October/November 1999 time frame. A more definitive date will be established once corrective actions, if necessary, are defined. The investigation of the RL10 engine failure is now focused on one scenario which seems to satisfy all of the available data from the May 4 Delta III failure. This scenario is a breech in the combustion chamber structure of the RL10 engine. Lockheed Martin has now looked at the pre-ship xrays of the combustion chambers of all the engines that are scheduled for near term Atlas flights(7 engines in total). They have concluded that one of the GOES RL10 engines is the worst of the lot waiting to fly. Lockheed Martin believes that the necessary actions to clear our engines for flight cannot be completed in time to permit us to launch by August 20, the start of the fall eclipse. Therefore, they made the decision to delay the launch of GOES, remove our launch vehicle from the pad. NOAA and NASA concurred with this decision. The spacecraft remains at Cape Canaveral. Lockheed Martin will work with the government to prepare a return to flight plan." Steve Arnett Satellite Analysis Branch NOAA/NESDIS/SSD steve.arnett@xxxxxxxx (301) 763-8051 ext 109
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