New date set for European climate satellite launch

The European Space Agency yesterday said it had set the date of April 8 for the delayed launch of CryoSat-2, a satellite designed to see how earth's ice sheets react to climate change.

The launch had been pencilled for next Tuesday, from Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

It was postponed to probe worries that the second-stage engine's fuel reserve was insufficient.

"During the investigation, the Ukrainian company responsible for the overall design of the Dnepr launcher, Yuzhnoye SDO, and the company that develops the launcher's control system, Hartron-Arkos, confirmed that the ratio of fuel to oxidiser could be adjusted to improve the performance of the second stage engine," ESA said in a press release.

"This small adjustment involved modifying the software that controls the fuel usage. The modifications have since been made and validated." Liftoff is scheduled for 13.57 GMT on April 8.

CryoSat-2 is a replica of a first satellite lost through a second-stage launch failure in October 2005 that used a modified Russian SS-19 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

The Dnepr is a three-stage derivation of an SS-18 ICBM.

The 700-kilo satellite carries an all-weather microwave radar altimeter designed to measure changes in the thickness of floating sea ice and land ice sheets to within one centimetre (0.4 of an inch).

It will be the third of ESA's Earth Explorer satellites.

The others are GOCE, launched in March 2009 to monitor ocean circulation, and SMOS, launched in November 2009 to monitor soil moisture and ocean salinity.