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The launch of a Russian-Ukrainian military conversion carrier rocket Dnepr, with the CryoSat-2 European research satellite, from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan has been set for early April. The launch of a Russian-Ukrainian military conversion carrier rocket Dnepr, with the CryoSat-2 European research satellite, from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan has been set for early April, Vladimir Andreyev, the general director of the Dnepr launch operator Kosmotras, told Interfax-AVN on March 16.

"The Dnepr is to be launched on April 6. This date has been confirmed by the Russian space agency Roscosmos," he said.

The launch of the European Space Agency's satellite was initially scheduled for February 25, but was delayed after designers proposed a method to enhance the rocket's reliability, he said.

Given the weight of the satellite and the parameters of its target orbit, the Dnepr capabilities must be maximized, he also said.

The flight program is being re-programmed. "The algorithm fuel components spending is being re-programmed for optimization," he said.

The CryoSat-2 will be used to measure the thickness and size of the ice crust of the Arctic, Greenland, Iceland, high-latitude zones of the ocean and mountain glaciers. It will monitor changes in the ice, while the data received is expected to help understand how global warming affects ice. The satellite was made under the ESA's Live Planet project.