India Launches Spy Satellite?

On Oct. 22, the Indian Space Research Organisation launched three satellites from the Sriharikota High Altitude Range Centre using a four-stage Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. The payload included the European Space Agency's Proba, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt eV's Bird and the Indian space agency's Technology Experiment Satellite, which carries a panchromatic camera that sports 1-m resolution for military surveillance applications, claim The Times of India sources.

The 1108-kg remote-sensing satellite, India's seventh, has a polar sun-synchronous orbit, enabling it to image the same region at roughly the same local times daily. The best resolution of the other satellites is 5.2 to 5.8 m on the IRS-1D, which produced the images above of the surrounding areas of Kabul, Afghanistan (left), and of Karachi, Pakistan (right). Officially, the new satellite is a test bed for advanced control, optical and power systems.