Europe looks to the future
With the successful launch of the Ariane 5 ECA in February, Ariane 5 ES ATV scheduled to liftoff in 2006 and Vega, Europe’s first small launcher, set to make its maiden flight in 2007, the immediate future of European launchers seems bright, but what about the long-term?
Designing and building a new launcher takes time, on average around ??? years. That is why ESA’s Next Generation Launcher Programme (NGLL) is already hard at work on plans for a new launcher. This will ensure that by 2020 Europe has an affordable next-generation launcher ready to take the place of the Ariane 5 series.
Expendable or reusable?
To ensure that Europe retains its access to space, and remains competitive in the space sector, a new generation launcher needs to be both flexible, reliable and able to reduce the cost of sending satellites into space. Which type of launcher can best meet these needs, expendable or reusable? This is one of the major questions facing ESA.
Before an informed decision can be made, much preparatory work is needed. FLPP has already started commissioning studies on a reusable launcher. Studies on a new type of expendable launcher will commence in 2007.
To come up with an idea for a reusable launcher the first step is to carry out studies on:
- • systems to define possible architecture for future space transportation
- • in-flight experimentation
- • rocket propulsion
- • materials and structures
- • aerothermodynamics
- • vehicle-health management systems
European industry is already at work. In December 2004 the first contract for an industrial prime contractor to carry out system studies and consolidation studies to prepare two complementary types of experimental vehicles, was awarded to NGL Prime.
This is a new joint venture set up by EADS and Finmeccanica. Based in Turin, the NGL Prime team includes specialists from France, Germany and Italy. Their work will entail harmonising FLPP activities with those already underway in ESA Member States.
The first experimental vehicle to be built, named IXV, will validate technologies relating to atmospheric re-entry; the second, named Re-use-X, will provide the first operational results linked to other aspects of reusability.
By the end of 2005 contracts will be awarded to cover all the technical fields involved in designing a reusable vehicle. These include liquid and solid propulsion; materials, structures and aerothermodynamics; and reusable launch vehicle system concepts and experimental vehicle studies.
Technology activities will focus on preparing ground-based technological demonstrations for various structure and propulsion subsystems. In-flight demonstrations with test beds and experimental vehicles will also take place.
Europe’s scientists, technicians and engineers are justifiably excited at the prospect of designing and building a revolutionary new launcher. Says Juergen Ackermann, ESA FLPP Programme manager: “There is a lot of hard work ahead, and no doubt there will be some set backs along the way, but we are all determined to come up with a new launcher that will ensure Europe’s future in space for many years to come”.
