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European GOCE satellite launch set for Oct. 27

RIA Novosti

03/10/2008 16:51 MOSCOW, October 3 (RIA Novosti) -- The European Space Agency has set October 27 as the new tentative date for the launch of the GOCE satellite, the agency has said in a press release.

On September 7, preparations for the launch of GOCE from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia were halted by Eurockot due to an anomaly identified in one of the launcher's guidance and navigation subsystems.

Russian space authorities "are completing the investigation of the Breeze KM failure and implementing the related corrective measures. The remaining activities on the launcher side and the subsequent combined operations with the satellite have led to a calculated launch date of Monday, 27 October 2008 at 15:21 CET," ESA said.

ESA also said, while awaiting the final outcome of the investigations into the failure and the replacement of the affected units that, "the GOCE team has begun preparatory activities in line with the proposed launch date."

The carrier rocket, bearing a Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) satellite, had originally been scheduled for lift off on September 10.

The Rockot launch vehicle is a modified version of the Russian RS-18 (SS-19 Stiletto) intercontinental ballistic missile. It uses the two original lower stages of the ICBM in conjunction with a Breeze-KM upper-stage for commercial payloads.

GOCE, developed by ESA, is the first European satellite designed to provide unique models of the Earth's gravity field on a global scale and with unprecedented accuracy and spatial resolution.

The satellite, along with a host of support equipment, was delivered to the Plesetsk center from Amsterdam in July for pre-launch check and recently mounted on the rocket.

The contract to launch GOCE was concluded between the ESA and Eurockot Launch Services GmbH, a joint venture of the Khrunichev center (49%) and EADS Astrium (51%).

A total of seven launches of Rockot carrier vehicles have been made since 2000 under the Eurockot program, with 16 satellites owned by leading space agencies and organizations from the United States, Europe and Asia put into orbit.