spacetoday.net: PSLV launches remote sensing, other satellites

Posted: Mon, Jul 12, 2010, 11:49 AM ET (1549 GMT)
PSLV launch of Cartosat-2B (ISRO)

An Indian rocket placed a remote sensing satellite and four smaller spacecraft into orbit on Monday. The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre on India's east coast at 11:52 pm EDT Sunday (0352 GMT, 9:22 am Indian time Monday) and placed into orbit the Cartosat-2B satellite. The spacecraft, weighing nearly 700 kilograms at launch, is the latest in a series of remote sensing satellites. It features a panchromatic camera that can take images with resolutions better than 1 meter per pixel. Also launched on the same rocket were four smaller satellites ranging in mass from less then 1 kilogram to 116 kilograms. One of the satellites was built by Indian students and the other three were from Algeria and Canada.