NASA is to launch a new Mars probe after the rocket designed to send it into orbit was found not to be faulty; the $500m (£280m) Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) will lift off from Florida today, after a delay of one day over safety concerns.

It will arrive in orbit around Mars in March 2007 to look at the history of water on the planet and hunt for landing sites for future manned missions.

This is the biggest space craft NASA has ever sent out to space before and is the size of a small bus, it can transmit 10 times more data each minute than any other of the Mars probes.

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station no earlier than 0850 local time (1252 GMT).

Update: 30 minutes left for launch, watch it live on NASA TV.
Update 2 :The time is 12:50 GMT and the mission has now been scrubbed for at least 24 hours.

Image above: The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter ready to launch on Thrusday aboard a Atlas V rocket. Credit: NASA TV

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