MOSCOW. Oct 31 (Interfax-AVN) - The launch of three Swarm European satellites with a Rokot light launch vehicle and a Briz-KM upper stage from the Plesetsk Space Center has been scheduled for November 21, a source from the space industry told Interfax-AVN on Thursday.
"The launch has been preliminarily scheduled for [November] 21," he said.
Another source told Interfax-AVN on Wednesday that the launch had been postponed for about one week. A confirmation was posted on the website of the European Space Agency (ESA).
The reason is that problems were found in the Briz-KM upper stage, the source said. The Rokot rocket and the Briz-KM upper stage were designed and produced at the Khrunichev State Space Center.
That would be the second Rokot mission after the misplacement of three defense satellites on January 15, 2013. The error was caused by failures in the Briz-KM upper stage. A special commission ordered that telemetric equipment be installed in the upper stage for monitoring the operation of its systems during the flight.