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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7946480.stm


Gravity satellite launch delayed





The launch of a European Space Agency gravity mapping satellite, called Goce, has been delayed.

Controllers suspended the countdown when the service tower protecting its rocket failed to move clear of the vehicle to allow a lift-off.

If engineers can isolate the problem, it is possible that another launch attempt can be made on Tuesday.

Goce will give scientists new insights into how the interior of the planet is structured and how the oceans move.

Scientists will use also use Goce's data to frame a universal system to measure height anywhere on Earth.

The super-sleek spacecraft is to go into orbit on a modified intercontinental ballistic missile.

The delay will frustrate scientists but they have grown use to slippage on this particular mission.

The Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer (Goce) was already two years behind schedule because engineers had to work through immense technical difficulties in building it.

The satellite was then due to go into orbit a year ago, before a succession of issues were raised about the performance of the Rockot vehicle, a modified intercontinental ballistic missile.

Esa is particularly anxious about this launch because of what happened to its Cryosat spacecraft in 2005.

The ice mapping spacecraft, which is also part of the agency's Earth Explorer programme, was destroyed when its Rockot vehicle failed to make it into space, falling into the Arctic Ocean.

Although Goce is being lofted from Russia's Plesetsk Cosmodrome, officials from Esa are following the launch campaign at the agency's Earth observation HQ here in Frascatti, Italy.

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FAAKHER E CHAAMB