French and European satellite replicas

[ValCab33]

Hello there!

I've been working on some French and European 'spy' satellites for a french space group I'm part of, and I thought I'd share these here too.
Note that these were reproduced using the sometimes very few pictures available online, so model accuracy may vary.

 

HELIOS 2

First one in the fleet is the Helios 2 observation satellite. Based on the Spot 4/5 platform. Launched in 2005 (H2A) and 2009 (H2B), it was France's main observation satellite before the launch of CSO.
It is used in partnership with Italy, Spain, Belgium, Germany and Greece.
It can take very high resolution and infrared pictures with its main sensor, and wider, lower res ones with its secondary sensor.

Spoiler

The custom solar panels in video:

Mods used:
- Both DLC
- TweakScale
- Restock & Restock+

 

CSO

France's newest observation satellite, CSO (for Composante Spatiale Optique - Optical Space Component) has a higher resolution, more IR modes, and more agility than Helios 2.
CSO-1 launched in 2018, CSO-2 in 2020, and CSO-3 is planned to launch in 2021.

Spoiler

 

Mods used:
- Both DLC
- TweakScale
- Restock

 

COSMO-SkyMed 

Italian Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) observation satellite, used in partnership with France.
The 4 satellites were launched between 2007 and 2010, and they will be replaced by 2 COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation satellites, the first of which was launched in 2019.

Spoiler

Mods used:
- Both DLC
- TweakScale
- Near Future Solar
- Near Future Exploration

 

PLEIADES NEO

Unlike the Pleiades satellites it will replace, Pleiades NEO will only be used for civilian purposes.
They will feature a much better resolution (30cm instead of 70), higher agility and 4 satellites instead of 2. They will be the European competitor to WorldView.
The first Pleiades NEO is set to launch in 2021.

Spoiler

Mods used:
- TweakScale
- Restock & Restock+
- Near Future Solar
- Near Future Exploration

 

CERES

Planned for launch in 2021, CERES (Capacité d'Ecoute et de Renseignement Electromagnétique Spatiale) will be a trio of French Signals Intelligence mini-satellites.
Flying in formation, they will be able to pinpoint radar and telecommunication emissions.

Spoiler

Mods used:
- Both DLC
- TweakScale
- Restock & Restock+

 

I will probably create more in the future, like some older satellites, the first Pleiades will probably be the next, it was the first one I made but now that I look back on it it looks real bad x)
I will post .craft files if people are interested, but note that my game is heavily modded so there might be parts from other mods that I forgot were there.