Russia has planned to build space launch pad in French Guyana for Russian rockets. The main aim behind this is to hunt for Earth-like planets in other star systems. This will help Russia to keep tight grip on space technologies.China also wants to send up a space station and land a robot probe on the moon by 2010.

Work will begin on launch pad for Russian rockets in French Guyana in February, Russian Space Agency head Anatoly Perminov said, predicting the first will blast off in 2009.

“The project’s development is taking place successfully,” Perminov added at a press conference of the project, which will allow Russian Soyuz rockets to blast off from the European space center at Kourou in the South American French overseas department.

The announcement comes three years after Paris and Moscow agreed to allow Russian rockets to use the space centre to launch telecoms satellites into space.

The rockets in question - Soyuz 2-1B - are equipped with a new third stage kerosene and oxygen engine and are considered more powerful than their predecessors.

One such rocket is scheduled to be launched on Wednesday from Baikonur, Kazakhstan carrying a French-made Corot satellite designed to hunt for Earth-like planets in other star systems.

The launch was initially scheduled for last Wednesday, but was delayed for technical reasons.

Man’s first effort to detect from space planets located outside the solar system, Corot will also allow scientists to study the internal structure of stars.