The French-built 712kg SPOT 6 Earth observation satellite was successfully launched by an Indian PSLV launch vehicle. The lift off from the Sriharikota launch site took place on 9 September at 0423 GMT. The launch was delayed slightly by two minutes due to the need to ensure a miss with passing space debris. The SPOT 6 spacecraft was built by Astrium and will have maximum resolution of 1.5m, putting it firmly in the there Earth observation class rather than lower resolutoin remote sensing closs. The imagery is to be marketed by Spot Image S.A.
Also on the flight was a small plasma thruster technology test satellite: the 15 kg PROITERES (Project of Osaka Inst. of Technology Electric Rocket Engine aboard
small Spaceship). There was also a small intertial navigation payload called Mini Redundant Strapdown Intertial Navigation System (MRESINS) which was attached to the rocket upper stage.
