An Indian launcher lifted off Sunday and placed France’s Spot 6 commercial Earth imaging satellite and a Japanese secondary payload into orbit 400 miles high. The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle lifted off at 0423 GMT (12:23 a.m. EDT) from the Satish Dhawan Space Center on Sriharikota Island, India’s primary launch site on the country’s east coast about 50 miles north of Chennai. The 1,569-pound Spot 6 satellite will collect high-resolution imagery, resolving objects as small as 1.5 meters, or about 4.9 feet. A twin satellite named Spot 7 is under construction for launch in 2014. Read More
