NASA's first shuttle flight in more than two years has been put off indefinitely as the space agency mounts a massive investigation into why a fuel gauge failed right before Discovery's scheduled lift-off.
Engineers were no closer yesterday to knowing why the gauge acted up two days earlier.
"We are going forward on a day-by-day basis," Wayne Hale, deputy shuttle programme manager. "We have got the entire resources of the agency behind us to troubleshoot this problem."
Hale said that once the problem was identified and fixed, it would be another four days before the shuttle could launch.
"Everybody is going to want to ask, 'What is that date going to be?' Well, I don't know," he said.
It was the latest setback in NASA's gruelling and drawn-out quest to return to space and recover from the 2003 Columbia tragedy. The space agency has made a multitude of safety improvements to the aging shuttle to avoid future catastrophes, efforts that have repeatedly delayed Discovery's mission.
Engineers are looking at whether any of those safety improvements -- like additional heaters on the external fuel tank to prevent dangerous ice build-up -- may be contributing to the failure of one of the four fuel gauges in the tank.
When the gauge showed an improper setting, the July 13 launch was cancelled.
Hale said it's possible NASA could try to launch again late next week, "but that would require a very near-term lucky find" of the source of the problem.
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