spacetoday.net: India launches remote sensing spacecraft

Posted: Fri, Oct 17, 2003, 10:02 AM ET (1402 GMT)
PSLV launch (ISRO)

An Indian rocket successfully launched a remote sensing satellite early Friday. A Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Center at Sriharikota, India at 12:52 am EDT (0452 GMT, 10:22 am local time) Friday, despite heavy rains in the area. The PSLV placed the Resourcesat-1, also designated IRS-P6, spacecraft into a Sun-synchronous orbit, 821 kilometers high at an inclincation of 98.8 degrees. The 1,360-kilogram spacecraft is India’s most advanced remote sensing satellite to date, with three instruments designed to take images in visible and infrared wavelengths. The launch was the second this year for India, after a larger GSLV booster launched in May, and is the eighth for the PSLV dating back to 1993.