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EROS A1, the world's lightest commercial, high-resolution, remote sensing satellite, was lifted into orbit last night from the Russian Cosmodrome in Svobodni, Siberia, to provide high-resolution imagery of Earth, officials of ImageSat International N.V. said today.
The launch aboard a Russian Start 1 vehicle was intended to place the satellite in a sun-synchronous, polar orbit at 480 km (298.3 miles) above the Earth. The 250-kg (551.2-pound) satellite is designed to provide imagery for a wide range of commercial applications.
The launch took place at 9:30 p.m. in Siberia, and the satellite separated as planned from the START-1 vehicle 15 minutes later. Communication with the satellite was established immediately after separation at Swedish Space Corp.'s polar...