A new Earth-observing satellite rocketed into space today for India, giving the nation a new eye in the sky to monitor civilian activities and their impact on the environment.

File image of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle lifting off. Photo: ISRO

Liftoff of the eighth PSLV rocket with the IRS-P6 satellite occurred at 0452 GMT (12:52 a.m. EDT) from the Satish Dhawan Space Center at Sriharikota, India, located on a narrow island along the coast with the Bay of Bengal. It was mid-morning at the launch site.

Weather at Sriharikota was less than desirable as the important moment approached, but officials elected to give a go ahead to launch since winds remained favorable. The weather was described as a "heavy downpour" that started a half-hour before blastoff, said The Times of India.

A large contingent of VIP's gathered to watch the launch, including Satya Brata Mookherjee, the minister of state for space. Also reported to be planning to attend before the launch was Indian President Abdul Kalam, a former worker at Sriharikota over 20 years ago.

"This launch is yet another demonstration of the technological heights which our space scientists have achieved. Our space program has placed strong emphasis on harnessing information and communications technologies to the service of development," Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee said after the launch, which he watched on television.

"India is one of six space-faring nations in the world. In applying space technologies to developmental applications, we are ahead of most of the others."

The four-stage, 146-foot tall Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle took 18 minutes to deliver its payload into a 500-mile high Sun-synchronous orbit with an inclination of 98.7 degrees.

Scientists and engineers in the control center in Bangalore were expecting a successful deployment of the craft's solar panels shortly after launch. Five ground stations scattered around the globe will be picking up signals from the satellite as it passes overhead.

Also called ResourceSat, the 3,000-pound IRS-P6 will offer the continuity of remote sensing data provided by the IRS-1C and IRS-1D satellites that have surpassed their planned lifetimes.

Focusing primarily on natural resources, India's most advanced Earth studies satellite will monitor agricultural areas, land management data, and will collect information on water resources.

Disaster management is another application well covered by ResourceSat, whose three instruments are similar to those carried by its predecessors, but with advancements. With a maximum resolution of about 19 feet, wide coverage swaths, and regular revisit capability, the craft should become the flagship of the now six-satellite Indian Remote Sensing fleet.

An artist's concept of ResourceSat. Credit: ISRO

"ResourceSat-1 reiterates our commitment to continue the remote sensing services to the national and the international users. ResourceSat-1 will not only continue the services that are now being rendered by IRS-1C and IRS-1D, but also, it will provide imageries with much better spatial resolution and in additional spectral bands. Thus, once commissioned, ResourceSat-1 will vastly enhance the remote sensing applications, especially, in the fields of agriculture, disaster management, land and water resources, etc.," Mookherjee said.

Scheduled to last for five years, ResourceSat will be joined by IRS-P5 in space within the next year. That craft will devote much its life to mapping and cartographic applications.

In addition to ResourceSat, an 88-pound microsatellite was also slated to be launched on this mission to provide space-based amateur radio services. However, after failing a critical test, it was decided to remove the small spacecraft from the launch to fix the problem, then fly it on a later rocket launch.

Friday's launch marked the 18th attempt by India to send a rocket into orbit, dating back to 1979. ResourceSat also was the 37th Indian-built satellite to be flown in space -- 19 others were launched aboard foreign boosters.

India plans at least two more rocket launches next year. Flights of the PSLV with another remote sensing satellite and of the larger Geostationary Satellite Launch Vehicle with a communications bird are expected within the next 12 months.

Furthermore, future activities also include a lunar orbiter that could be in orbit around the Moon within five years to study Earth's neighbor in space.

"The successful launch today, the seventh in a row, unequivocally demonstrates the reliability of PSLV as a workhorse launch vehicle for launching our remote sensing satellites," Mookherjee said.

"PSLV has also proved its versatility having launched multiple satellites on earlier occasions as well as by launching an exclusive meteorological satellite, KALPANA-1, into a geosynchronous transfer orbit. This vehicle is also proposed to be used for our first mission to moon, Chandrayan-1. I am sure that PSLV, with its reliability well proven, will attract more and more international customers while meeting our own requirements for launching our future remote sensing satellites."