Galileo satellite launch delayed

PARIS: The launch of the first test satellite for the European Space Agency’s Galileo civil navigation system has been delayed by two days to December 28, the Roskosmos Russian space agency has said.

“Following a request from its sponsor (the ESA), the launch has been put back from December 26 to December 28,” said Roskosmos spokesman Vyacheslav Davidenko, quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency Saturday.

The GIOVE-A satellite had been due to blast off from Russia’s launch site at Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on December 26, to test technologies for the joint EU-ESA project to build the first civil satellite navigation system. The payload, to be launched by a Russian Soyuz rocket, will comprise a British-built 600-kg satellite that will be placed in orbit at 23,000 km.

But the ESA requested a delay until at least December 28 to correct an anomaly detected in the ground station network.