Posted: Mon, Jan 21, 2008, 10:36 AM ET (1536 GMT)
An Indian rocket placed an Israeli radar satellite into orbit early Monday. A Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre on India's east coast at 10:45 pm EST Sunday (0345 GMT, 9:15 am local time Monday) and placed the TECSAR satellite into low Earth orbit. Little advance notice was given of the launch, which had been delayed for several months because of technical problems. The spacecraft, also known as Polaris, is a 300-kilogram Israeli reconnaissance satellite designed to provide high-resolution synthetic aperture radar images. Indian officials called the launch the second commercial flight of the PSLV, after the launch of an Italian astronomy satellite last year, although the Israeli and Indian governments agreed to the launch several years ago.
