Digital Audio Satellite Launch Scrubbed

A Boeing-led firm scrapped the launch of a digital audio broadcast satellite about 30 seconds before the planned liftoff. Sea Launch Co. of Long Beach did not immediately explain the cancellation. Weather was favorable at the Odyssey launch platform in the Pacific Ocean, 1,300 miles south of Hawaii. The launch was supposed to send up the first of two digital audio broadcast satellites, to be known by the names Rock and Roll. XM Satellite Radio Inc. of Washington plans to offer 100 channels of subscription digital programming broadcast directly to U.S. customers beginning this summer. The service initially will be available to people who purchase new car satellite radios--expected to cost hundreds of dollars--and pay a $9.95 a month service fee. Sea Launch, an international consortium led by Boeing, uses 200-foot-tall Zenit-3SL rockets. Launches are conducted at the equator to take advantage of the physics of Earth’s rotation that allow a rocket to loft a heavier payload than it would elsewhere.