This afternoon, ESA's Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) satellite was due to be launched by a Russian Rockot vehicle from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Northern Russia.

However, the launch operations were stopped a few seconds before scheduled liftoff as the doors of the launch service tower did not open. Due to this anomaly, the tower was held in position and did not move back as required for a launch.

The teams in charge of the launch operations are currently investigating the cause of this anomaly and will be able to provide further information later. At present there is confidence that the launch can take place tomorrow at the same time (15:21 CET).

The GOCE spacecraft is under controlled conditions and will remain safe inside the launcher's fairing waiting for the next launch opportunity.

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Russian Launch Of European GOCE Satellite Delayed
Moscow (RIA Novosti) Mar 17, 2009 - Monday's launch of a Russian 'Rockot' carrier rocket carrying Europe's first GOCE satellite has been postponed for at least one day, an official from the European Space Agency said, without giving a reason for the postponement.

The launch was to be carried out by Russia's Space Forces from the Plesetsk space center in northwest Russia at 5.21 p.m. Moscow time (14.21 GMT).

Lt.-Col. Alexei Zolotukhin, a spokesman for the Russian Space Forces, said the launch has been postponed due to a technical problem, and will be conducted on Tuesday at the same time.

The Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) satellite was designed to measure the Earth's gravitational field.

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

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.

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%).