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BY RIGHTS NASA’s Dawn mission to study two asteroids should be called Phoenix, given its resurrection last year, barely a month after being written off.

So it is ironic that after bad weather delayed its launch this week, NASA has postponed Dawn until September, so as not to impinge on an upcoming mission to Mars – named, you’ve guessed it, Phoenix.

If Phoenix were to miss its first launch window, from 3 to 25 August, it would have to wait two years for its next chance to lift off.

However, delaying Dawn is not without its consequences: it will add an…

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