Japan Aeropace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has announced that the launch of Astro-E2 will be delayed. This delay is not because of any problems with the Astro-E2 satellite, or the M-V rocket that it will be launched on. Rather, this is so that JAXA and industry engineers can concentrate on the upcoming launch of a weather satellite on an H-2A rocket (the motors for both the M-V and the H-2A booster are made by the same manufacturer).

The new launch date for Astro-E2 has not been decided yet. It's likely to be either the spring or the summer of 2005, meaning a delay of 3 to 6 months.

In the meantime, the Astro-E2 spacecraft has been assembled and tested. The team plan to perform a final, full check of the spacecraft, including all the instruments, in mid December.

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