Problem In Russian Rocket Forces Delay In Orbiting Craft

Russians decided to delay until next year a launch of the European GOCE Earth explorer satellite on a Rockot launch vehicle, pending a probe into a failed system, the European Space Agency (ESA) announced.

Russians are examining a failure in the guidance and navigation system of the launcher’s Upper Stage (Breeze KM).

The anomaly was discovered during the spacecraft’s launch preparation tests last month at Plesetsk, which subsequently led to postponing the launch.

Cause of the anomaly in the guidance and navigation system has meanwhile been identified and reproduced. Necessary hardware changes will require a minimum of two months additional work by the manufacturer.

As a consequence, GOCE can’t launch earlier than February 2009, according to the ESA.

The exact launch date will be decided at a later stage once the corrective measures have been fully implemented and validated