Work to start on space simulator

The Goce spacecraft will be launched in 2006

A Bristol company is creating a spacecraft simulator for the European Space Agency.

SciSys is building the computer test system for the agency's mission to measure the Earth's gravity field.

It will enable workers on the project to practise controlling the spacecraft and train to deal with emergencies during the operation.

The real craft will be launched into space from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia in 2006.

Alastair Pidgeon, SciSys's business development manager, said: "The main purpose of the simulator is to reduce risk.

"Ground staff will be able to rehearse the process of sending commands, monitoring data and reacting to simulated failures."

The Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) mission will collect data to help research into climate change and oceanography.