Watch India launch its 1st geosynchronous Earth-imaging satellite today

India plans to notch a spaceflight milestone today (Sept.

3), and you can watch the action live.

A GSLV Mark II rocket is scheduled to launch an Earth-imaging satellite toward geosynchronous orbit — something India has never done successfully — from Satish Dhawan Space Centre today at 5:25 p.m.

EDT (2:55 a.m. on Sept.

4 India Standard Time).

You can watch it live here at Space.com, courtesy of the Indian Space Research Organisation , or directly via ISRO .

Coverage will start 30 minutes before liftoff.

An Indian GSLV Mark II rocket topped with the EOS-05 Earth-observation satellite stands on the pad before its planned Sept.

3, 2026 launch. (Image credit: ISRO) The GSLV (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle) Mark II is a three-stage rocket that stands 170 feet (52 meters) tall.

The vehicle debuted in 2010 and has 12 flights under its belt to date, 10 of them successful. (Its predecessor, the GSLV Mark I, flew six times between 2001 and 2010, with two launch failures.) On today's flight, the GSLV Mark II will send up EOS-05, a 5,218-pound (2367 kilograms) satellite designed to study our planet from a very high perch.

"EOS-05 is a state-of-the-art Earth observation spacecraft," ISRO officials wrote in the press kit for today's launch.

"It is India’s first-ever imaging satellite from geosynchronous orbit." Geosynchronous orbit (GEO) lies 22,236 miles (35,786 kilometers) up, where orbital speed matches Earth's rotational speed.

Spacecraft at this altitude can therefore "hover" over a particular patch of our planet, making it a popular destination for weather, communications and spy satellites .

EOS-05's "ability to maintain persistent coverage could support monitoring of the Indian subcontinent, including remote border areas, strategic assets, severe weather and environmental events," The Economic Times wrote on Wednesday (Sept.