spacetoday.net: Indian PSLV launches weather satellite

Posted: Thu, Sep 12, 2002, 10:23 AM ET (1423 GMT)
PSLV launch (ISRO)

An Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) successfully launched that nation's first dedicated weather satellite on Thursday afternoon. The PSLV lifted off from the launch site at Sriharikota in southern India at 6:25 am EDT (1025 GMT) and placed its payload, the METSAT weather satellite, into geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) about 20 minutes after liftoff. METSAT is India's first dedicated weather satellite: previously, India combined weather and communications payloads into the same spacecraft. The launch is the first for the PSLV since October of last year and also the first time the PSLV, normally used for launching payloads into polar orbits, has been used to launch a spacecraft into GTO. METSAT, weighing in at 1,060 kg, is the heaviest payload launched by the PSLV.