Rainy weather in Florida forced SpaceX to move to Tuesday its planned launch of a $340 million sun-observing spacecraft, followed by a bid to recycle its Falcon 9 rocket.

"Teams will target launch on Tuesday with a backup of Wednesday as weather is more favorable on both of those days," said a statement on NASA's website.

The unmanned Deep Space Climate Observatory is now scheduled to blast off atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Tuesday from Cape Canaveral, Florida at 6:05 pm (2305 GMT).

The backup is set for Wednesday at 6:03 pm (2303 GMT).

A launch attempt Sunday was canceled after US Air Force radar experienced technical problems.

DSCOVR's goal is to help space weather forecasters by collecting data on solar wind and geomagnetic storms that can cause damage to electrical systems on Earth.

After the launch, SpaceX will make another attempt to guide the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket back to a controlled landing on an ocean platform, as part of the California-based company's goal of making rockets one day as reusable as airplanes.

In January, the rocket attempted a controlled maneuver to land on a powered-barge in the Atlantic, but collided with it instead and broke into pieces.