(Image source from: Deccan Herald)

A spacecraft of NASA's much-awaited Parker Solar Probe which it is claimed will "touch" the sun has been unsuccessful to launch pursuing a countdown on Saturday morning.

Engineers "scrubbed" departure at the last second for as-yet unknown reasons. It has been rescheduled for Sunday morning instead.

The satellite which is car-sized was due to blast into space from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 4:28 a.m. eastern time (9:28 a.m. BST) yet millions of online watchers left disappointed since nothing took place.

"This morning's launch of @NASASun's #ParkerSolarProbe was scrubbed," NASA tweeted. "Launch teams will attempt to launch on Sunday morning."

In a bid to unlock some of the solar system's greatest secrets, over the following seven years, it will dip directly into the sun's roasting hot outer atmosphere.

In special, scientist hope Parker will render information regarding solar winds and solar energetic particles.

The craft will endure temperatures of more than 1,300C while looping around the Sun a planned 24 times and sending its data back to Earth. It will move to just 3.83 million miles at some points from the star's broiling surface.

"I realize that might not sound that close, but imagine the Sun and the Earth were a meter apart. Parker Solar Probe would be just 4 cm away from the Sun," Dr. Nicky Fox, the British-born project scientist, told the BBC. We'll also be the fastest human-made object ever, traveling around the Sun at speeds of up to 430,000 mph - New York to Tokyo in under a minute."

The answers have been sought by the scientists that the Park Solar Probe should give 60 years, and the origins of the mission commenced in the Nineties. But at present it has been enabled by the breakthroughs in thermal engineering that will let the small probe to last despite the blazing heat it will be subject to.

By Sowmya Sangam