Cape Canaveral (Florida), July 20 (Reuters): Nasa will make another attempt to launch space shuttle Discovery next Tuesday on the first shuttle mission since the 2003 Columbia accident, US space agency officials said yesterday.

Engineers found the probable causes of the fuel sensor failure that forced Nasa to postpone the first launch attempt last week, officials said.

“We have some repairs... to make on the vehicle, and we will pick up the count for the launch on Saturday... and we will proceed to a launch on Tuesday,” shuttle programme manager Bill Parsons said at a news briefing. “We have a great amount of work in front of us ... but we’ve all agreed this work is doable,” he said.

Liftoff is targeted for 1439 GMT.

Nasa cancelled the launch countdown when a fuel sensor malfunctioned about two hours before the planned liftoff last Wednesday.

Engineers have since been scrambling to find the cause of the sensor problem, which Nasa now believes is due to possible electromagnetic interference and/or an issue with how the sensor’s power supply is grounded to the vehicle.