KIEV, Jan. 24 - The launch of Ukraine's new-generation Earth observation satellite Sich-2 to a solar synchronous orbit with a Dnepr Ukrainian-Russian rocket is planned for the first quarter of this year, Dnipropetrovsk-based Yuzhnoye Design Bureau General Director Oleksandr Degtyarev told reporters.

The Sich 2 launch was initially planned for last fall but was postponed until December 2010.

The Dnepr will blast off the Yasny launch site of a Russian Strategic Rocket Forces division in the Orenburg region, he said.