Posted on 12/19/2004 3:01:29 AM PST by Champs elysees
French spy satellite put into orbit
PARIS — A Ariane rocket roared into space from a pad in French Guyana yesterday, placing into orbit a surveillance satellite expected to give France's military new abilities to spy worldwide.
The satellite and six smaller scientific ones were placed into orbit about an hour after liftoff. The Helios 2A military satellite, the rocket's main cargo, is to rotate in sun-synchronous orbit about 435 miles above the Earth.
Among expected functions, the satellite is to monitor possible weapons proliferation, prepare and evaluate military operations and digitally map terrain for cruise-missile guidance, the French Defense Ministry said.
Helios 2A is said to be able to spot objects as small as a textbook anywhere on Earth. Its infrared sensors will allow France's military to gather information at night from space for the first time.
Helios 1B, which was launched in 1999, suffered a power problem and the military let it disintegrate in the atmosphere two months ago. The first satellite in the series, Helios 1A, went up in 1995 and is still operating.
Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company
Parasol is part of a French-American space observation mission involving six satellites that can study the world's atmosphere and help give a complete idea of how human activity affects the environment.
I give it a week at most before it surrenders and becomes useless junk.
Bastards! We must destroy it soon!!!
The frogs do not have a good track record for satellites or space launches. It seems that every other Arian blows up either on the launch pad or a few seconds into the air, and their last "spy satellite" got blown up by space debris. Not to mention the fact that FARCE has yet to send a human into space.
Ariane launcher is a central element of European space policy, is a fine commercial achievement that has captured over 50% of the launch market for satellites.
http://www.cnes.fr/html/_455_461_1382_.php
This is perhaps the biggest betrayal of the Clinton years.
| actually the Ariane series has had the world record for the longest string of successful consecutive launches.
|
Powered by Grey Poupon, no doubt.
LOL!
As in "The Giants have been incredibly penalty free here in the first half. Uh oh, it appears we have a flag down on the play.......
EADS SPACE Transportation is already preparing for the next generation of launch vehicles, to replace Ariane 5 towards 2020. Studies of technology demonstrators, notably Phoenix and Pre-X, which could be incorporated in ESA’s FLPP programme, are underway.
Unmanned European Shuttle Phoenix Lands Safely
By Mattias Karen
Associated Press
posted: 11:00 am ET
09 May 2004
Europe (AP) -- An unmanned prototype of a European space shuttle glided safely back to Earth on Saturday after being dropped from nearly 8,000 feet up by a helicopter. Guided by Global Positioning System satellites, the German-designed EADS Phoenix was dropped by a heavy-duty helicopter over Sweden at 9:45 a.m. and ``landed perfectly'' 90 seconds later on a test runway north of Stockholm, a project spokeswoman said.
"Everyone here is ecstatic," said Johanna Bergstroem-Roos, of the North European Aerospace Test Range in Kiruna, 770 miles north of Stockholm. "This gives us wind in our sails."
The Phoenix shuttle, along with the Ariane 5 rocket, represents the European Space Agency's hope for sending astronauts into space, but project managers concede a full-size version will not be ready until sometime between 2015 and 2020.
The test flight was originally planned for Friday but was postponed so technicians could finish analyzing data from an earlier test of the vehicle's onboard computers this week.
The next step likely will be to drop the prototype from higher altitudes, with the help of a high-altitude balloon, Bergstroem-Roos said. The finished shuttle must be capable of gliding to land from an altitude of 80 miles, she said.
The prototype is just under 23 feet long, weighs 2,640 pounds and has a wingspan of 13 feet. It's one-sixth the size of the actual planned vehicle.
EADS, or the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co., is the largest aerospace company in Europe and the second-largest worldwide.
PICS here : http://www.space.com/images/v_phoenix_drop_02.jpg
Really? Why?
Based on its experience in aeronautics programmes and spaceplanes, Dassault Aviation has built-up an important skill in the field of Reusable Launch Vehicles (RLV) and is now involved in the european Future Launcher Technologies Program (FLTP). To lay the groundwork for these vehicles, the company studies the VEHRA demonstrator family (French acronym for Airborne Reusable Hypersonic Experimental Vehicle).
Web TV ADSL video : http://www.dassault-aviation.com/espace/
Thanks. Where is it they plan to land that puppy?
Oh, and welcome to FreeRepublic.
Istres, a town in the South of France.
I do have one bone to pick with you on this: Ariane could not survive without heavy subsidies and is actually in violation of WTO guidelines. That being said, one wonders if any national space industry could survive without subsidies (and by using the term "subsidies" I do not mean government contracting.)
I do think that the EU has missed the boat on the EELV business. Ariane is a concept based on the past (not that that detract from the accomplishment in any way, or that the EU cannot adapt.)
The Truth is that NASA and the DoD need to get out of the rocket business and just issue payload requirements and contracts.
If the US can turn its space policy around then we shall see another generation of innovation and international competition.
The US in the last 5 years has staged a turnaround in the launch business, much to the chagrin of the EU inner circles. They thought that they had outfoxed us.
BTW, Arianespace does not really have 50% of the market (they fudge launch date windows to get this number.) Over time it break out to roughly a third each for the USA, the EU and Russia.
It is true that the USA leads in sat design, but it is not much of a lead. The real break-though will come here when they can manufacture and deploy in space. That will cause a leap in architectures (Large space based arrays, etc.)
As an aside, it seems that contrary to the common wisdom - and the notion behind the Ariane series - large launchers will not be needed for earth launched sats. The trend is clear toward networked microsats. Large launchers will be needed instead for space based infrastructure. This put the EU in an awkward position for the EU seems to have no real popular support for the sort of endevour nor the investment a sustained program would require.
You have to remember that as moribund as the US space policy is we spend around 40 billion a year of federal money on space if you count up both NASA and the DoD. It is probably more if one adds in "Black programs" and NSF initiatives. the EU spends almost an order of magnitude less.
I imagine that as the EU and the USA come into a more adversarial relationship there will be less of the sort of cooperative relationships between the space industries of the two rivals, a cooperation that that has been mostly one way as far as tech transfer goes.
We shall see. America has viewed itself as a space faring nation. My guess is that with the right amount of leadership and good results from policy America will support the new direction. I do not see the same sort of support from the EU population, it does not seem to be in the character of the Europeans to undertake this sort of broad ranging and difficult task. They seem more to pursue a path of reacting to American success in such a way as to not get left behind commercially and technologically. But people change. Who knows?
One thing is certain: Sustained accomplishment in space requires the broad support of the general public and must be instill with a vision that goes beyond mere commerce at the edges. A space faring nation must desire to be a space faring nation as an end in itself. That is not to say that the business of space should not be approached in a business like manner. It is merely to assert that there are much deeper forces involved. It cannot not be merely will by elites. It is one thing to play at it and play follow the leader, it is another thing to make it a core principle of ones identity. One can contrast, for example, the British Royal Navy with the German attempts at a blue water navy during the age of sail. It is clear here which nation is realizing a national attribute and aspiration and which is being prodded by elites to challenge a leader.
In the end vanity will lose. It will be interesting to see if the EU can recover the creative, innovative and adventurous spirit that once characterized Europe and still today characterizes the USA. I hope the the US never gives it up, but anything is possible.
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Uh-oh. You weren't supposed to say that out loud. Don't you ever watch football? The minute the announcer says, "Berkowitz has 40 consecutive carries without a fumble...."