Posted: Tue, Sep 11, 2012, 9:31 AM ET (1331 GMT)
An Indian rocket placed a commercial remote sensing satellite into orbit on Sunday. The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) lifted off from India's Satish Dhawan Space Centre at 12:23 am EDT (0423 GMT, 9:53 am local time) Sunday and placed the SPOT 6 satellite into orbit. The satellite, built by EADS Astrium for its own Astrium GeoInformation Services subsidiary, will provide imagery with resolutions as sharp as 1.5 meters. A twin satellite, SPOT 7, is scheduled for launch in 2014, and will work in tandem with SPOT 6 as well as the Pleiades very high resolution imaging satellites. The PSLV also placed into orbit the student-built Proiteres microsatellite from Japan. The launch was the Indian space agency's 100th mission, and India's prime minister attended the launch.

Related Links:

•  Spaceflight Now article
•  The Hindu article
•  NASASpaceFlight.com article
•  The Times of India article
•  AP article