For some reason neither ESA nor ArianeGroup through this was worth sharing at the time. Weird!https://europeanspaceflight.com/arianegroup-completes-key-prometheus-hot-fire-test/
Prometheus : A new-generation 3-D printed engine that’s reusable… It will change the rules of the game.Each plays a decisive role in the present (and future) of European space transport.👉 Which of these engines impresses you the most?
The first model of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) reusable rocket demonstrator Themis is standing at its launch pad in Kiruna, Sweden.Themis is investigating technologies to demonstrate rocket stage recovery and reuse. The first vehicle model – called T1H for Themis-1 engine-Hop – arrived at the Esrange Space Center over the summer, with its landing legs shipped separately. The legs are now installed, and T1H is standing tall. Themis is set to be the first European demonstration of a full-scale vertical take-off and landing rocket element that uses cryogenic propulsion. T1H is 30 m tall standing on its legs and 3.5 m wide, holding the necessary technologies for the low-altitude take-off and landing tests it is set to perform. Themis uses the Prometheus engine, almost as powerful as the Ariane 6 rocket’s main engine – but Prometheus can restart in flight and throttle its thrust to ensure a soft and safe landing. Themis was transported by truck over 3000 km from the ArianeGroup integration building in Les Mureaux, France, to the Swedish Space Corporation’s Esrange Space Center in the north of Sweden. After final check at a Kiruna assembly building, Themis was moved to the pad in August and hoisted onto a tool to allow the swift assembly of its four legs. This is the first time the rocket stage demonstrator has had its four legs installed, now the demonstrator is fully assembled and ready for its wet dress-rehearsal preparing for a first flight. Themis, the first European reusable main stage’s full-scale demonstrator, was developed by ESA’s future Space Transportation preparation programme, with ArianeGroup as prime contractor and multiple European industrial partners. Themis’s first flight campaign with T1H, will be realised in the scope of Horizon Europe project Salto, funded by the European Union. The Salto project is responding to the EU Space Research and Innovation Programme and is implemented by 25 consortium partners from 12 European Union countries.
ArianeGroup work on reusable launcher pathfinders. Hop tests soon in Kiruna.
Andrew Jones Bluesky [Oct 1]QuoteArianeGroup work on reusable launcher pathfinders. Hop tests soon in Kiruna.
DLR Delivers Callisto Landing Leg Prototype for TestingThe DLR Institute of Structures and Design has delivered the qualification model of the Callisto reusable rocket demonstrator’s landing leg to the DLR Institute of Space Systems in Bremen for testing.Callisto is an international reusable rocket demonstrator jointly developed by DLR, CNES, and JAXA. The project’s primary goal is the development and maturation of key technologies for future reusable launch systems.The Callisto demonstrator will be equipped with four landing legs designed to absorb the impact of propulsive recovery and keep the rocket upright for successful retrieval. The responsibility for developing the demonstrator’s landing legs was assigned to the DLR Institute of Structures and Design in Stuttgart, which is also in charge of the vehicle’s fairing and aerodynamic control surfaces.On 9 October, the Institute of Structures and Design announced that it had delivered a qualification model of the demonstrator’s landing leg to the Institute of Space Systems in Bremen. According to a 3 December 2024 update, the leg will now undergo a series of tests at the Institute’s Landing and Mobility Facility, including deployment, touchdown, and vibration testing.Once the qualification test campaign is complete and the landing leg design has been validated, the Institute of Structures and Design will proceed with the construction of the four flight-ready legs.The initial low-altitude hop tests of the Callisto demonstrator were expected to take place in 2026 from the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana. However, in a 12 September call for proposals published by CNES for mechanical operations and procedures support, the agency stated that the full ten-flight test campaign is expected to be carried out in 2027 over a period of eight months.
We are pleased to announce that, together with Vard and Cetena as subcontractors, we have been selected to design a European maritime platform dedicated to recovering reusable launch vehicle stages, as part of an important project managed by ESA to meet the continent's growing need for autonomy and drive the development of groundbreaking technologies aimed at redefining launch efficiency, payload capacity, exploration, and human transport.The design of this vessel—which will be capable of withstanding the impact loads of a stage during landing and will offer versatile applications beyond space missions—is part of the contract signed by the European Space Agency with Avio to develop and demonstrate a reusable upper stage in flight. This work confirms the strong focus on sea-based recovery systems and the supporting ground infrastructure.
The Fincantieri Group, a world leader in the marine industry, has risen to the challenge with its strong expertise and innovative vision by studying a solution for landing at sea on a seaborne drone platform.The ability to build and customize ships, with the know-how developed over the years, is leading to the design of a vessel of major sea keeping performance and maneuverability, able to withstand the loads of a landing stage and ready to meet needs with great versatility, with potential use also for non-space applications as well.
The giant net didn't work with SpaceX fairing recovery.
French engineering group Technip Energies (T.EN) is in the process of completing Factory Acceptance Tests for a robot that will be used to connect and disconnect umbilicals from the Callisto reusable rocket demonstrator before and after liftoff.
