BOURGET SHOW 2017

NATIONAL CENTER FOR SPATIAL STUDIES

PROMETHEUS A PRECURSOR ENGINE

During the interministerial conference of the European Space Agency, in Lucernes in 2016, the financing of the long-term strategy for the preparation of the launchers of the future finally materialized;

Europe of launchers is preparing the engines of tomorrow which will equip future European launchers. The goal: to guarantee Europe's access to space and ensure its competitiveness.

Space Europe "must prepare for the future" with a new family of Prometheus engines (PRecurseor Reusable Oxygen METHAN cost effective proPulsion System) at very low cost which can be used on conventional or reusable rockets, the Secretary of State said on Wednesday. French Research Thierry Mandon

"We have to win the game that comes - the development of the European launchers Ariane 6 and Vega C - and prepare for the next seasons at the same time", said Mr. Mandon, after giving an update to the French space agency Cnes with European launcher players.

Faced with the increase in the American budget devoted to space, "if Europe does not put a little energy into the financing of space research (...), we will run after the technological breakthroughs" of others, has he added.

Space Europe is under pressure from the exacerbation of international competition in the field of launchers.

The American company SpaceX is pursuing a very aggressive cost strategy and is moving towards the development of reusable rockets. Last week, she managed to recover the first stage of her Falcon 9 rocket for the fourth time.

Prepared by Cnes and Airbus Safran Launcher (ASL), with the support of the German space agency DLR, the Prometheus engine plays the technological “breakthrough” card .

It will run on liquid oxygen and methane. This hydrocarbon is "more interesting in terms of cost than hydrogen" currently used with liquid oxygen on the Vulcain engine of Ariane 5 and the first stage of Ariane 6, explained Jean-Marc Astorg, director of launchers at the Cnes.

It will be largely manufactured using 3D printing.

"This simpler engine will be ten times cheaper to produce ," said David Quancard. It will be largely manufactured using 3D printing.

Prometheus will be designed from the start to be reusable but it can also be equipped with conventional launchers.

"The goal is to produce a prototype of Prometheus that can be tested before 2020 ," Astorg said.

France and Germany hope to be joined by Italy in this dossier.

The cost of the prototype is around 125 million euros.

The objective is to bring, by 2020, manufacturing processes and technologies to a sufficient level of maturity to initiate rapid development. For a rate of 50 per year!

Benefiting from a heritage of more than 20 years of R and T, it will be radically different in its design compared to current engines: Vulcain and Vinci. (Respectively from the 80s and 90s)

Promeuteus (Pecurseor ReusableOxygen METHAN cost effective proPulsion System)

is a low-cost, reusable model that runs on liquid oxygen and methan. It will have a variable thrust with a maximum of 100 tons. Universal and inexpensive usable on a whole range of future launchers - from the micro-launcher to an evolution of Ariane 6, in lower and upper stage engine.

A new design:

Advances in production will be leveraged: in particular the extensive use of 3D printing.

“The Prometheus project will be considered by the conference of European space ministers in Lucerne whether they are conventional or reusable,” said Mr. Astorg.

Global cost of the demonstration: 110 M euros.

Simultaneously, France, Germany and Japan began researching a reusable first-stage prototype, dubbed Callisto.

Intended to be launched from French Guiana, this ten-meter-high mini vehicle, which will be equipped with a Japanese engine, will climb to an altitude of around one hundred kilometers before descending to land. Its promoters are aiming for the date of 2020 for a first test.

The Callisto project at this stage costs a hundred million euros. It will also be presented at the ministerial conference in Lucerne.