The Paris Airshow had a decidedly military theme this year, with dual-use satellites and rocket engines being put forward
Space highlights of the 2025 Paris Air Show
Category: France
Progress on Pseudosatellites
Pseudosatellites are airborne platforms that can fill some mission traditionally dedicated to regular satellites, like communications and observation, with 24/7 persistence, at a reasonable cost. The representatives of three French companies gathered to give an overview of their progress.
Tour of French New Space 2023: FLORE, Hyp4U and state policy
Let us finish this series on 2023 French newspace, by touching upon the small satellites services the armed forces are procuring, namely the FLORE SIGINT satellite, the Hyp4U hyperspectral one, and the policy behind these choices.
Tour of French New Space 2023: Promethee
A look into the tactical observation constellation proposed by this new actor.
Tour of French New Space 2023: Yoda & Hemeria
June and July 2023 were packed with conferences and announcements by the French New Space sector. This warrants a tour of what's happening in the sector. Let's start with Hemeria, a builder of small satellites
The laser patroller satellite: an elegant weapon for a more civilized age
France is building a laser-armed killer satellite. What could it look like?
France’s Space Commander shares lessons learned from Ukraine and future plans
The defense commission of the French National Assembly is having a series of hearings about the lessons learned so far from the Ukraine war, and has finally published the exchange with the head of Space Command.
France debates its near-space policy
To start off 2023, the Chief of Staff of the French Air Force organized a colloquium on Very High Altitude Operations, meaning operations between conventional airplane altitudes, under 20km, and "orbital space" above 100km. It featured Air Force officials, but also the companies and research institutes involved in developing platforms able to fly at these… Continue reading France debates its near-space policy
ASTERX 22: France’s annual military space exercise
While Russia started invading Ukraine, French Space Command was holding its annual exercise, called ASTERX 22. The ministry of armed forces then gave a presentation to the press about the command and the exercise. Background on French military space policy The presentation started with an introduction of French military space. To readers of this site,… Continue reading ASTERX 22: France’s annual military space exercise
The case for a French military constellation
There has been a recent change in French military space policy: high-level officials have starting floating the idea of a constellation of small satellites to support military operations.
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