A power outage in the Santa Barbara area caused a major telecommunications disruption and forced the rescheduling of a planned SpaceX launch Tuesday afternoon.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, a regional outage in Santa Barbara disrupted communications of the Los Angeles Air Route Traffic Control center, which manages air traffic over the Pacific Ocean. A spokesperson for the Santa Barbara County Office of Emergency Management confirmed to KTLA that 911 services were also affected throughout the entire county.
The disruption came as SpaceX planned to launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in north-western Santa Barbara County, but the launch was scrubbed due to airspace concerns from the FAA.
“The FAA took this action to ensure the safety of the traveling public,” a statement from the federal agency reads.
SpaceX had intended on launching around 11:15 a.m., and the countdown clock came within a minute of launch time. But the mission was given a “no-go,” and was rescheduled for the same approximate window on Wednesday.
The Falcon 9 launch was the first part of NASA’s TRACERS Mission, which involves the launch of twin satellites into orbit to study the earth’s magnetic shield, and how it protects the plant from solar wind.
“As they fly pole to pole in a Sun-synchronous orbit, the two TRACERS spacecraft will measure how magnetic explosions send these solar wind particles zooming down into Earth’s atmosphere — and how these explosions shape the space weather that impacts our satellites, technology, and astronauts,” NASA writes in its mission briefing.
Three smaller research satellites were also on board, NASA said.
Despite the delay, NASA said the rocket’s payload remained “in good health,” and there’s no indication that Wednesday’s launch at Vandenberg won’t happen.
As of 3 p.m., telecommunications disruptions in Santa Barbara County are ongoing.
KTLA’s Lily Dallow contributed to this report.