washington

The launch of a low-budget US spacecraft mission to map the chemical composition and gravitational field of the Moon and search for evidence of ice has been delayed for the second time.

The $63-million Lunar Prospector will now leave Earth no earlier than 5 January, due to delays in developing its new Athena 2 launch vehicle.

The launcher and spacecraft are built by Lockheed Martin Corporation. Lunar Prospector's launch was originally scheduled for September, then November. If the date slips past February, it could compromise the mission's ability to meet all its scientific objectives, according to the principal investigator, Alan Binder of the Lunar Research Institute in Gilroy, California. The current plan is to complete the main mission before a lunar eclipse in July 1999.