After resolving last-minute insurance issues, builder of the MBSAT mobile broadcasting satellite has affirmed plans to launch the craft in the predawn hours Saturday atop a Lockheed Martin Atlas 3A rocket.

The late-night launch time is 12:40 a.m. EST (0540 GMT). A 90-minute window extends to 2:10 a.m. EST (0710 GMT) to get the rocket off the ground.

An Atlas 3 will launch the MBSAT spacecraft into geosynchronous transfer orbit. Photo: Lockheed Martin

Space Systems/Loral had a 5 p.m. EST deadline today to give launch approval or else face losing the slot in Atlas' flight lineup, grounding MBSAT until at least summer.

MBSAT was originally slated for blastoff last September. But the satellite's manufacturer, Space Systems/Loral, has repeatedly delayed the mission. A recent setback was the investigation into the solar array deployment failure experienced by the Loral-built Estrela do Sul 1 satellite in January.

Hoping to finally get MBSAT launched, a two-day window was established for March 12 and 13 from pad 36B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. On Wednesday, Loral requested that Friday's attempt be called off due to "administrative purposes." Sources say insurance issues were behind the latest problem.

Officials acknowledged that if the Saturday attempt had been called off today, MBSAT and its Atlas 3 rocket would be removed from pad 36B and placed in storage.

With a busy launch lineup in the first half of 2004, Lockheed Martin needs to free up pad 36B to begin preparations for the next liftoff scheduled in May carrying the AMC 11 cable TV satellite.

Neighboring pad 36A has an Atlas 2AS rocket already assembled in preparation for an April 15 blastoff carrying the Japanese Superbird 6 communications satellite. Pad 36B will be reconfigured to support an Atlas 2AS with the AMC 11 spacecraft, scheduled for launch May 19. Pad 36A is then slated to support the last-ever Atlas 2AS in late-June to place a classified U.S. National Reconnaissance Office payload into orbit.

Only pad 36B can support the larger Atlas 3 rocket.

See our Mission Status Center page for live play-by-play updates during Friday evening's countdown and launch.