The second stage of a ground-breaking Italian satellite system for Earth observation and disaster prevention has blasted off from California.
After a few flutters - the launch window almost closed because of high winds and software hiccups - the Boeing Delta II launcher launched the second of COSMO-Skymed's four satellites.
The satellite moved into orbit just under an hour later to cheers at control rooms in the US and Italy.
''It was a complete success,'' said the president of the Italian Space Agency (ASI), Giovanni Bignami.
''COSMO-Skymed is a wholly Italian programme and the only one of its kind in the world,'' he added.
COSMO's four satellites, to be put in place over the coming two years, will use special radar sensors to provide high-resolution pictures in real time and in all visibility conditions.
COSMO-Skymed 1, launched in June, sent back spectacular, detailed pictures of natural disasters such as a huge rockslide in northern Italy, the disastrous wreck of a Russian tanker in the Black Sea and the catastrophic floods in Bangladesh, covering almost seven million square kilometres.
Skymed 2 will more than double that capacity, taking the Italian satellite system's mapping coverage up to one and a half million square kilometres.
Similar gains are expected with COSMO 3 and 4 in 2008 and 2009.
The technology is all-Italian, funded by the defence ministry and provided by the aerospace and defence giants Thales Alenia Space Italia and Telespazio Finmeccanica-Thales.
Watching the launch from Thales Alenia Space Italia's Rome base, a visibly enthusiastic Defence Minister Arturo Parisi said the COSMO-Skymed programme would give Italy ''a lead to be defended''.
He underlined ''the level of technical excellence'' required to construct a system ''with so many applications: from telecommunications to global observation, navigation, civil protection, security and defence''.
Company CEO Carlo Alberto Penazzi said ''Italy is proving it is capable of providing global prevention systems with an unequalled instrument''.
The defence ministry stressed the programme had ''opened the era'' of dual-use missions with civilian and defence pay-offs.
COSMO will be available for civil, military and scientific communities to monitor the Earth's environment and security risks.
Its synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensors will enable groups to quickly respond to natural disasters like volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, mudslides and floods.
