After a 24-hour delay caused by a ground system malfunction, a Russian space rocket has blasted off carrying a European research satellite into orbit.

The European Space Agency (ESA) has entrusted its GOCE satellite mission to the converted Russian SS-19 ballistic missile carrier Rokot which was launched Tuesday at 17:21 (14:21 GMT) from the Russian Plesetsk military cosmodrome.

A day before, the launch was interrupted just seven seconds before lift-off due to the failure of Rokot’s operational tower on the launch pad.

“The launch of the Rokot carrier with the European satellite on board has been shifted one day to a reserve date due to problems of a technical nature,” Lieutenant Colonel Aleksey Zolotukhin, spokesman for the Russian space-borne military forces, told journalists.

GOCE (the Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer) is the first European satellite to measure the earth's gravitational field and study ocean currents as part of the ESA's Living Planet programme.

The GOCE programme will help scientists understand how the Earth's gravity field influences oceanic currents, changes to the water level and the effect on climate. It will also study the Earth's underground activities in areas where there are high volcanic and seismic events.

The satellite weighs approximately 1,200 kilogrammes.

The GOCE launch was initially planned for autumn 2008, but was postponed several times due to problems in the control system.