Thirty years ago today, on July 7, 1995 (June 10, 1995 in the lunar calendar), the French super spy satellite came out of the mountain. After years of painstaking development, France's first photographic reconnaissance satellite,"Helios-1A", was launched on July 7, 1995 by an "Ariane" rocket, making France the fourth country with reconnaissance satellites after the United States, Russia and Israel. The successful development of the "Helios-1A" has attracted widespread attention from all over the world because it can help France and even Europe get rid of U.S. control in the field of reconnaissance and establish an independent defense system. Reconnaissance satellites are playing an increasingly important role in modern warfare. The Gulf War of 1990-1991 was the best example: at that time, the United States used almost all types of reconnaissance satellites to see clearly the every move of Iraq troops, including Scud missiles, so it could easily win the war. In fact, France considered developing reconnaissance satellites as early as 1960 to observe and analyze the situation of places of military significance such as airports, ports, and roads. The French Ministry of Defense officially proposed the "Samro" photographic reconnaissance satellite program in 1977, and changed it to "Sun God" in 1986. Experience has proved that the information and intelligence provided by the two superpowers in the past was often incomplete and could not be relied on often. For example, before the outbreak of the Gulf War in 1991, the United States showed France a set of photos of Iraq military targets taken by American reconnaissance satellites, but refused to leave these photos to France for use. This move deeply stung France, thus strengthening its determination to develop its own reconnaissance satellite. "Helios-1A" is the first component of France's vast space surveillance network. This French first-generation photographic reconnaissance satellite system consists of two satellites, a ground receiving system and an image data analysis system, with a total investment of 10 billion francs. Spain and Italy participated in the investment. Soon,"Sun God-1B" will also be launched into space. "Helios-1A" is a photographic reconnaissance satellite, weighing 2.5 tons, operating in sun-synchronous orbit, and regularly flying over all parts of the earth at an altitude of 400-800 kilometers. It used civil satellite technology, such as its use of the "Spot-4" Earth Resources Satellite's multi-purpose platform and tape recorder, saving France 1 billion francs. Its "Golden Eye" is a camera with a full-color image resolution better than one meter. The camera's pointing design has a 30° tilt, allowing it to observe any point within a 950-kilometer ground width, and the same area can be detected every two and a half days or so. This observation technology, called "off-nadir", can observe the same scene from different angles and is of great benefit to photographic interpretation during arms verification. Helios satellites can observe railways, roads and fences that prohibit people from entering places on earth. They can also distinguish between trucks and carriages, civilian vehicles and military jeeps, as well as fighter jets and cargo ships. Different from the way that the US and Russian reconnaissance satellites put photos taken in space into sealed boxes and threw them back to the ground, Helios satellite is a "video satellite" that uses a sensitive photography controller that records light intensity to conduct observations and uses the ground receiving station to process the observation results in an information-based manner, so that the clarity of the image obtained will be greatly improved. Starting from 2001, France will continue to launch four second-generation Helios satellites. The "Helios-2" satellite has higher performance. In addition to a visible light camera, it also carries an infrared camera, so it can conduct day and night observations. In addition, France is also developing electronic reconnaissance satellites and photographic reconnaissance satellites carrying synthetic aperture radars. The latter can achieve all-weather, all-day reconnaissance and complement each other with the Helios satellite. France is rapidly becoming a military aerospace power, and military competition on the space stage will become more intense.