Trajectory & orbital insertion · playback
Orbits are real (live SGP4) — press play to sweep the deployed group forward along their planes. Ascent path is a representation; true ascent telemetry isn’t public.
Provider
Arianespace
Provider type
Commercial
Orbit
PO
Mission type
Earth Science
Launch site
French Guiana
Date
Fri, 03 Dec 1999 16:22:46 GMT
Orbital launch #
#4357 ever
Mission
The Helios program is Europe's military optical reconnaissance system consisting of both a space and a ground segment, which commenced service in 1995, jointly funded by the French, Italian and Spanish governments. The Helios I optical observation satellites, launched in July 1995 and December 1999 respectively, can acquire high resolution images of any point on the globe, with daily revisit capability. Helios-1B had suffered a breakdown of its power supply system in October 2004 and could no longer perform any work after operating for just under its 5-year nominal life expectancy.
Deployed payloads · 1