Helios 1A an 1B are advanced French Earth observation (surveillance) satellites which are widely believed to have 1 meter resolution capability. The Missile and Space Directorate (DME) of the French armament agency (DGA) heads the overall $2 billion Helios program. Spacecraft and payload information is not readily available due to the secret nature of the program. Spacecraft: 3-Axis stabilised, nadir pointing. CNES operates a Helios ground station in Toulous, France. Payload: The imaging system uses 4096 pixel and 2048 pixel linear CCDs to provide 1 - 5 meter resolution images. The CCDs are produced by Thompson CSF. Tape recorders are manufactured by Schlumberger Industries.

Total Mass: 2,537 kg.

French optical military reconnaisance satellite based on Spot 4.

• 2 - McDowell, Jonathan, The United Nations Registry of Space Objects, Harvard University, 1997. HTML when accessed: http://hea-www.harvard.edu/QEDT/jcm/space/un/un.html
• 6 - JPL Mission and Spacecraft Library, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 1997. HTML when accessed: http://msl.jpl.nasa.gov/home.html