Boost! logo
Image: Boost! logo
#launchers #space #science #esa #europeanspaceagency
posted by pod_feeder_v2
#launchers
Ariane 6 main stage final test firing
Image: Ariane 6 main stage final test firing
#launchers #space #science #esa #europeanspaceagency
posted by pod_feeder_v2
Ariane 6 main stage final test firing
Image: Ariane 6 main stage final test firing
#launchers #space #science #esa #europeanspaceagency
posted by pod_feeder_v2
Boost! graphic horizontal
Image: Boost! graphic
#launchers #space #science #esa #europeanspaceagency
posted by pod_feeder_v2
Themis ground and flight models
Image: Themis ground and flight models
#launchers #space #science #esa #europeanspaceagency
posted by pod_feeder_v2
Space Transportation future logo
Image: Space Transportation future logo
#launchers #space #science #esa #europeanspaceagency
posted by pod_feeder_v2
All-in-one YPSat, Ariane 6 bound
Image: All-in-one YPSat, Ariane 6 bound
#launchers #space #science #esa #europeanspaceagency
posted by pod_feeder_v2
HyImpulse hybrid rocket motor test
Video: 00:00:28
Testing the 75kN hybrid rocket motor made by HyImpulse at German Aerospace Center, DLR’s Lampoldshausen facility in Germany, based on a low-cost hybrid propulsion technology. The rocket motor uses "space-grade candle wax" and liquid oxygen as propellants.
HyImpulse Technologies, based in Neuenstadt am Kocher in Southern Germany is developing a three-stage small launcher. Their three-stage launch vehicle, called SL1, will also be powered by green hybrid propulsion technology, using liquid oxygen and paraffin as propellants. The lightweight rocket is designed to launch small satellites up to 500 kg out to low-Earth orbit.
HyImpulse technologies was one of the first three companies to gain support from Boost! – ESA's Commercial Space Transportation Services and support to Member States programme.
Through Boost!, ESA supports the development, deployment and use of new European commercial space transportation services, under private leadership and responsibility.
#launchers #space #science #esa #europeanspaceagency
posted by pod_feeder_v2
Prometheus prototype engine test
Video: 00:00:24
Scenes from a 30-second burn with re-ignition of an early prototype of the Prometheus engine at ArianeGroup’s test facility in Vernon, France, on 20 October 2023.
The 100-tonne thrust class Prometheus burns liquid oxygen-liquid methane fuel. Methane is clean burning and simplifies handling, to help enable reusability and reduce the cost of ground operations before and after flight.
The engine is mounted in an early prototype of a reusable rocket stage, called Themis, which is being developed in parallel with the engine under contract from ESA. While engine testing continues, work is also underway to prepare a more advanced Themis prototype for a series of “hop-tests” in Kiruna, Sweden. The objective will be to lift off and rise to as high as 100 m, to check flight and landing capability.
#launchers #space #science #esa #europeanspaceagency
posted by pod_feeder_v2
Ariane 6 launch animation
Video: 00:02:21
Animation of the first launch of the Ariane 6 rocket with two boosters.
Ariane 6 is an all-new design, created to succeed Ariane 5 as Europe's heavy-lift launch system. With Ariane 6's upper stage and its reignitable Vinci engine, Europe's launch capability will be tailored to the needs of multiple payloads, for example to orbit satellite constellations. This autonomous capability to reach Earth orbit and deep space supports Europe's navigation, Earth observation, scientific and security programmes. Ongoing development of Europe's space transportation capabilities is made possible by the sustained dedication of thousands of talented people working in ESA's 22 Member States.
At over 60 metres tall, Ariane 6 will weigh almost 900 tonnes when launched with a full payload – roughly equivalent to one and a half Airbus A380 passenger aircraft.
Vinci, the upper stage engine of Ariane 6 fed by liquid hydrogen and oxygen, can be stopped and restarted multiple times – to place satellites into different orbits and then de-orbit the upper stage, so it is not left behind as hazardous debris in space.
For the development of Ariane 6, ESA is working with an industrial network of several hundred companies in 13 European countries, led by prime contractor ArianeGroup.
France’s space agency, CNES, is preparing the Ariane 6 launch facilities at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.
Access the related broadcast quality video material.
#launchers #space #science #esa #europeanspaceagency
posted by pod_feeder_v2
Ariane 6 mobile building rolling timelapse
Video: 00:01:14
On 23 November 2023 the Ariane 6 rocket test model at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana was prepared for a combined hot-fire test to test its core stage and main engine for eight minutes of firing – the full duration of a launch.
The mobile building weighs 8200 000 kg – heavier than France's Eiffel Tower. Its platforms provide access to the rocket before a launch. It protects Ariane 6 until its doors are opened and is retracted before a launch or test. The mobile gantry stands on 16 bogies with eight wheels each and every wheel is equipped with an electric motor.
A total of 128 electric motors synchronise to set the wheels in motion along rails. There are three speeds. The first and last metre are done at the slowest speed of a metre per minute. This increases to a ‘cruising’ speed of 7.6 m per minute for a 130 m stretch and then slowed back down to 3 m per minute in the decelerating phase over a distance of 9 m. The full rollout of 141 m takes 22 minutes.
This timelapse was made before engine ignition and shows the test model surrounded by four tall lightning towers that would take the hit in stormy weather, two large concrete flame trenches that divert exhaust gases away from the launch table and the water tower that would supply huge amounts of water at high speed during a real launch, to suppress sound and vibrations caused by the boosters.
Access the related broadcast quality video material.
#launchers #space #science #esa #europeanspaceagency
posted by pod_feeder_v2
Watch live: Ariane 6 eight-minute hot-fire test
Watch live on ESA Web TV on 23 November as Europe’s new Ariane 6 rocket goes through a full-scale rehearsal in preparation for its first flight, when teams from ArianeGroup, France’s space agency CNES, and ESA on the ground will complete a launch countdown rehearsal. The test includes the ignition of the core stage Vulcain 2.1 engine, followed by 470 seconds of stabilised operation covering the entire core stage flight phase, as it would function on a launch into space.
#launchers #space #science #esa #europeanspaceagency
posted by pod_feeder_v2
Helix hot-fire by Rocket Factory Augsburg
Video: 00:01:19
Scenes from the first hot-fire test of the Helix rocket engine built by Rocket Factory Augsburg, known as RFA, at the Swedish Space Corporation Esrange site in Kiruna, Sweden. The final scene shows testing of the RFA One rocket fairing separation designed and developed by RFA in Portugal.
Rocket Factory Augsburg’s RFA One launch vehicle is being developed in Augsburg, Germany, with hot-fire tests of the engine and second stage performed at the Esrange Space Center in Sweden, under an initial Boost! co-funding committed by ESA in 2022.
Staged combustion technology has higher efficiency and performance compared to conventional open-cycle rocket engines. The partially-unburned exhaust gases from the turbopump are fed into the main combustion chamber, avoiding release of unburned fuel. Recycling the exhaust significantly increases the efficiency of the launch vehicle while reducing launch costs and minimizing CO2 emissions during rocket launches.
RFA One is an orbital vehicle that will have three stages and be launched from its Saxavord launchpad in the UK. Measuring 30 m tall and 2 m in diameter, RFA One targets a deployment capability of up to 1300 kg to a 500 km polar orbit.
#launchers #space #science #esa #europeanspaceagency
posted by pod_feeder_v2
Isar Aerospace Aquila rocket engine test
Video: 00:44:00
Scenes from testing the Aquila engine, designed, built and tested by Isar Aerospace at their engine test site in Esrange, Sweden.
Isar Aerospace finished engine hotfire testing for its Aquila engines in October 2023 by firing an Aquila engine for 260 seconds multiple times – more than it needs to fire for a flight. The test exceeded expectations by firing one of the engines six separate times without refurbishment.
Munich-based Isar Aerospace was supported by ESA’s Business Incubation Centre and previous Boost! contracts in 2020 and 2021. Its Spectrum rocket will be 28 m tall, 2 m in diameter and its ten engines will launch payloads in two-stages with of up to 1000 kg to low Earth orbit, or 700 kg to a sun synchronous orbit.
#launchers #space #science #esa #europeanspaceagency
posted by pod_feeder_v2
ESA further boosts RFA One across Europe
ESA has committed further Boost! Programme funding to German startup Rocket Factory Augsburg, known as RFA, for the development of commercial space transportation services based on the RFA One launch vehicle at sites in Portugal, Germany and the UK.
#launchers #space #science #esa #europeanspaceagency
posted by pod_feeder_v2
ESA space transportation accelerates disruptive innovation with FIRST!
An ESA initiative to speed the development of disruptive space technologies took a step forward this month, when a cohort of European innovators presented concepts which they hope will help Europe build commercially competitive, high-performance space transportation systems.
#launchers #space #science #esa #europeanspaceagency
posted by pod_feeder_v2
