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Ariane 5 Deploys French Spy Satellite
Rolo Tomasi writes "An Ariane 5 rocket successfully put the French satellite Helios 2A into orbit today. The 4.2 ton spacecraft, which cost about one billion euros, will be used for surveillance by France and other European countries."
Includes one (1) white flag permanently affixed to outside of vehicle.
$6.21 is the number of the beast before sales tax. Meh.
I didn't think the article was too good. The following two are better:
Swiss Info
Reuters
- Jax
A spy satelite? So the French have a greater lead time in their surrender preperations?
There are lies, damned lies, and statistics.
Quoted from elsewhere but worthy of paraphrasing as a "pre-emptive strike" against the inevitable French-bashing that morons will engage in related to this article:
It is so unbecoming of a country which proclaims itself as the unchallenged leader of contemporary "civilized nations" and so unthankful of a nation that punctiliously celebrates Thanksgiving every year to forget the critical role that France played in the making of the United States of America.
For those Americans who are unaware of their history but have seen the painting of Lord Cornwallis surrendering to Gen. George Washington somewhere, sometime or viewed Mel Gibson's box office hit Patriot, both the painted masterpiece and the climax of the film resurrect the defeat and surrender of the British at the fateful Battle of Yorktown which led to the making of the United States of America.
As it happens, in the months preceding this battle the British under Lord Cornwallis and Gen. Howe with their "death squads" had almost vanquished Gen. Washington and his motley crowd of "patriots" and subdued the two Carolinas and Virginia. Having done that, Lord Cornwallis, camped in the peninsula of Yorktown, and Gen. Howe in New York prepared for the final showdown with Gen. Washington, who was waiting on the banks of Hudson River. Gen. Rochambeau, who was with Gen. Washington, offered to march down to Virginia with his 10,000 French regulars to fight Lord Cornwallis, which they did on foot; a long and hazardous trip, to say the least. Rochambeau also sent an urgent request to the 33-vessel-strong French Fleet in the West Indies under the command of Admiral de Grasse to join the forthcoming battle in Virginia, which he did. Soon the French were blockading the entrance to Chesapeake Bay, preventing the British Fleet sent by Gen. Howe from joining this battle.
Once he saw that defeat was inevitable, Lord Cornwallis sent one of his generals to the French General, Rochambeau, proposing surrender. Not to Gen. Washington, but to the French, because it was the French who had defeated the British. As expected, Rochambeau declined the offer and asked the British to surrender to Gen. Washington. After much negotiation Lord Cornwallis agreed and sent his sword to Washington and surrendered to the Americans.
The Americans had finally won their Independence, but with military assistance from France, without which there would not have been a United States of America. The French did not exact any price from America for this assistance, they did it all on the principles of liberty, equality and fraternity. Two centuries later America would repay this historical debt by liberating France from Nazi Germany. In between, there was the French gift to the United States of America of the majestic Statue of Liberty.
Fifty-seven years later Americans are demanding their pound of flesh from the French with the incumbent George Bush's "You are either with us or against us." Other princes of darkness - and there are many in America -- are crediting the President of France with dozens of qualities and the French with more character traits, all negative.
Outside the United States there is a universal cry of vive la France! Stand up for the universal principles of liberty, equality and fraternity. These shall prevail, sooner than later.
Jonathon's space report (Next issue)
http:planet4589.org/space/jsr/latest.html
"together with four Essaim
(`Swarm') French experimental electronic intelligence satellites."
The Singularity is closer than you think
Quant
It's main interest was going against the Red Coats and maintaining it's Nouvelle France.
France had it's revolution in 1789 and this is when trouble started for them as the idea of getting rid of monarchy had made the rest of Europe an ennemy of France, most of the anti French sayings heard in the UK (which you probably inherited) come from those days. Napoleon made things even worse as he had abolished the class system in both France and the territories conquered (eg: a big chunk of modern Germany) this is why he had local support in many palces and got the monarchs of Europe united against him... until of course he himself proclaimed to be an emperor.
France went into a restauration period where "at last" monarchy was reinstaured and the prolls put back where they bellonged (in the gutter) and the republic would be instaured much later when everyone else in Europe would have one.
So in other words, the case of using France as a defender of the republic in 1776 is blow out of the water. But the rest of it's history is quite interesting.
It's constitution has one interesting article that is very similar to something you must know.
Article 1: Every man is born equal in rights, rights that cannot be taken away..yada yada yada..
See it says "born equal in rights" not "just born equal". That, much later on, would have to have a serious impact on some issues on race for instance. Napoleon had a black officer, a metisse wife and that officer is no one less than Alexandre Dumas's father... you know, the writer.
It's just too bad that all those things ended. The pendulum swung the other way in the century to come and you ended up with things like the Dreyfuss affair where it was clear that err.. not "everyone is born equal" in right apparently.
All this to prove that it's the people that make the country, not the dates, or the scriptures. France ot the US can both show marvels or horrors, if it's people want it.
With your childish rant of the day out of the way, you can now go back to your day job of selling Freedom Fries.
Oh, and the Soviets had 50% of ALL the causulties in the war. Something like 20-25+ million Russians people died fighting Nazis. By the time US got involved, the war already turned against Hilter in Russia, it was just a mater of time.
It might be interresting to think how would the Russians do if Stalin was not in control of Russia, but Trotzky was (as Lenin wanted in his wil - Lenin said that Stalin was too brutal and paranoid to govern)
PS. Japan would still be defeated. As soon as they attached the US, the game was over for them. They did not have the natural or economic resources to beat the US.
Awww... Thanks, Precious!
"Wow. Now THAT'S a lot of angry Indians." - Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer
>>...not enought time watching the training camps and madrassas that produce the Islamic terrorists that are now pounding continental Europe
Of course they'll watch the madrassas... it's called "knowing your customer." Those French interdiction jets (built & sold *after* implementation of the UN-imposed "oil-for-food" programme) buried in the Iraq desert didn't just fly there on their own. And most of the RPG being fired at US military are Russian, a large number having recent-production serial numbers/manuf. dates. etc. etc. etc.
France will be an Islamic state in less than 50 years if France's current Muslim immigration/population numbers are to be believed. Who do they think will rescue them, then? c'est la vie!
I know its a spy satellite but there has to be someone or some group that can speculate on the capabilities of the sensor(s) onboard the satellite. I'd be curious to know the spectral range and resolution along with the spatial resolution.
I am not against to critize the french however the past is the past. If it wasn't for us, France would be a part of Germany. The plain and basic truth is the US and Russia are responsible for the space technology the world uses. History is to learn mistakes, not to relive and or live by past occurances.