Author Topic: European new micro launchers  (Read 53778 times)

Offline R.H.

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Re: European new micro launchers
« Reply #60 on: 11/06/2020 06:52 pm »
What is thrust of your Navier engine? Is pressure fed or turbopump. I'm guessing electric if turbo given its smaller than Rutherford.

As you have guessed, Navier will be driven by electric pumps. Its definitive thrust is still being evaluated at the moment to optimize our launcher performances.

Offline TrevorMonty

Re: European new micro launchers
« Reply #61 on: 11/06/2020 07:38 pm »
What is thrust of your Navier engine? Is pressure fed or turbopump. I'm guessing electric if turbo given its smaller than Rutherford.

As you have guessed, Navier will be driven by electric pumps. Its definitive thrust is still being evaluated at the moment to optimize our launcher performances.
Cool technology, only way to go for small engines. Hope you guys make it to launch pad.

Offline Rik ISS-fan

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Re: European new micro launchers
« Reply #62 on: 11/08/2020 08:34 pm »
Are these new capability numbers still accurate?
https://mobile.twitter.com/Venture_Orbital/status/1291046336394153985

Quote from: @Venture_Orbital
We are happy to announce that we have doubled Zephyr's payload capacity in LEO and SSO !

With this performance improvement, Zephyr will be able to respond more efficiently to our customers' needs.

#Zephyr #LaunchingPioneers
80kg to 550km LEO
70kg to 550km SSO

And a second question; any news on funding (for engine development/qualification)?
« Last Edit: 11/08/2020 08:38 pm by Rik ISS-fan »

Offline R.H.

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Re: European new micro launchers
« Reply #63 on: 11/08/2020 09:44 pm »
Are these new capability numbers still accurate?
80kg to 550km LEO
70kg to 550km SSO

Yes. As of today, Zephyr is designed to deliver around 70kg of payload to the most requested SSO orbits by nanosatellites operators (550-600km).

And a second question; any news on funding (for engine development/qualification)?

Unfortunately, I'm afraid I cannot tell you much about funding. But don't worry, engine development is ongoing. For example, this summer we signed a contract with CNES mostly for the development of ALM technics for Navier.
https://twitter.com/Venture_Orbital/status/1283321932960731143
Our propulsion team is hard at work !
« Last Edit: 11/08/2020 09:45 pm by R.H. »

Offline Rik ISS-fan

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Re: European new micro launchers
« Reply #64 on: 11/23/2020 06:57 pm »
There are currently five six projects with >250k development funding from European institutions.
The ones well known are the C-STS/BOOST! (DLR/ESA) launchers.
Correction I found another project (or two).
« Last Edit: 11/23/2020 07:25 pm by Rik ISS-fan »

Offline Rik ISS-fan

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Re: European new micro launchers
« Reply #65 on: 11/23/2020 10:49 pm »
I took the liberty to share a tweet from another forum member. (sorry Calapine)
https://twitter.com/AuerSusan/status/1330534439315779588
Quote from: @AuerSusan
Too much bureaucracy and dawdling in the Flag of European Union Space industry?

Flag of Germany startup @isaraerospace asked DLR Lampoldshausen to test their rocket engine.
Nine (!) months later they got "vague reply".

So they went to Flag of Sweden Esrange instead, which was much more forthcoming
[edit to add] most likely the reason is the permitted noise made at Lampoldshausen.
Might something similar have happened at RFA?
And let's not forget DLR Traunen, or they could have used a defunct reinforced fighter shelter.
That's what Dutch students were permitted to do, when their system grew to the size capable of destroying a test cell.


But, I know a story about a startup, that let others launch their rockets from Australia this year.
They started development of their solid rocket in 2012, but they had to set up their solid casting proces.
AFAIK this has taken them over six year to get all the government approvals and the financing. And this while they are working on multiple projects for the Dutch Military Organization.  :-[ :-X
« Last Edit: 11/23/2020 10:57 pm by Rik ISS-fan »

Offline Mighty-T

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Re: European new micro launchers
« Reply #66 on: 12/09/2020 07:24 am »
Great news for the European small launch sector!

https://twitter.com/isaraerospace/status/1336571091804938240

Offline bolun

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Re: European new micro launchers
« Reply #67 on: 03/29/2022 06:21 pm »
Ariane 6, Vega-C, microlaunchers: ESA looks to full range of launch options for European institutional missions

Quote
... in line with ESA’s Agenda 2025 vision of developing an increasingly autonomous and commercially robust European space capability, ESA is also assessing opportunities to exploit so-called microlauncher services currently under development by private companies in Europe.

“We are requesting European companies working on microlaunchers to give us robust technical information about the state of their developments” says Mr Neuenschwander.

The objective, he adds, is to make sound proposals about their potential to support European institutional missions to the ESA Council at Ministerial level, to be held in November 2022. Those proposals may include a request to initiate a competitive selection process for a prize of a microlauncher service to launch an ESA mission, potentially in 2024.

“With a realistic view of development milestones and associated launch dates, we allow European microlauncher services companies to qualify and compete for this individual launch of an ESA mission,” says Mr Neuenschwander.

He adds: "ESA's Space Transportation role is to safeguard Europe’s independent access to space, enable activities in space and soon, offer return-to-Earth capability.”

Offline TrevorMonty

Re: European new micro launchers
« Reply #68 on: 03/30/2022 12:33 am »
1000kg class LVs could handle most of Soyzu payloads as it does lot ride share for smallsats. Smaller LV maybe slightly dear per Kg but give customer more flexibility.



Sent from my SM-G570Y using Tapatalk


Offline Rik ISS-fan

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Re: European new micro launchers
« Reply #69 on: 04/10/2022 12:06 am »
1000kg class LVs could handle most of Soyzu payloads as it does lot ride share for smallsats. Smaller LV maybe slightly dear per Kg but give customer more flexibility.

Agree to disagree.

Micro launchers can launch a lot of small satellites (to LEO/SSO). But Vega(-C) already could be used for this. (Vega SSMS).
Soyuz with the Fregat in orbit stage has the capability to launch >4mT satellites to SSO. Or 3mT to GTO.
Micro launchers are capable of launching up to 1mT, Vega-C is capable of launching 2.3mT to SSO.
A62 will be capable of launching close to 7mT to SSO. Ariane 62 will be able to launch a combination of a soyuz and a vega payload to SSO at once.
Where Europa/ESA will still have a problem, are really difficult missions with multiple engine restarts. This is why the ASTRIS in orbit stage is a really important development.
The Ariane 62 isn't ideal for the Galileo missions, because the ULPM will stay in orbit /become a huge piece of space debris. Also for these missions ASTRIS is needed.
For smaller robotic exploration missions, like M2 Euclid, Soyuz would be the best launcher. Vega-C isn't powerful/large enough. And Ariane 6 is to capable/overkill; aka more expansive.

I think the P120C+ (P156), with a Zefiro40 (P36)+VUS(M10), or Prometheus (M50-M100) upper stage with optionally Astris or a smaller in orbit stage is what is really required to replace Soyuz.
I also think the development of a stretched booster version of Zefiro40, so P40-P60 with Ø2.3x <15m. could be useful for both Vega and Ariane 6.

Offline floss

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Re: European new micro launchers
« Reply #70 on: 04/24/2022 06:44 pm »
Pleas God no micro launcher based on Vega it adds no industrial knowledge I would prefer two micro launcher in HER
 One using methane the other using propane so people get experience using the fuels .

Offline Rik ISS-fan

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Re: European new micro launchers
« Reply #71 on: 04/25/2022 01:01 pm »
Pleas God no micro launcher based on Vega it adds no industrial knowledge I would prefer two micro launcher in HER
 One using methane the other using propane so people get experience using the fuels .
A pity for you, but Avio seriously proposed the Vega-L. A microlauncher using solids.
The VLM rocket that used the S50 and S44 solid staged is being developed by Brazil with lots of help from DLR (Germany). And Arianegroup had a solid PPH proposal called Sparrow they studied but quickly abandoned.

LOx Propane: ISAR Aerospace Spectrum & Orbex Prime.
LOx RP-1: RFA One; PLD Space Miura 5 & Venture Orbital Systems (VOS) Zephyr..
LOx LNG: M10 engine from Avio; Arianegroup Maia Space/ Sirius space services; Black Arrow 2 & Pangea Aerospace Aerospike Meso 

Also really stupide this hasn't been posted here. from European Spaceflight /@AndrewParsonson.

EuropeanSpaceflight European Rocket Index
« Last Edit: 04/27/2022 11:14 am by Rik ISS-fan »

Offline floss

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Re: European new micro launchers
« Reply #72 on: 04/25/2022 01:05 pm »
How many will go bankrupt in the coming years ?

Offline Rik ISS-fan

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Re: European new micro launchers
« Reply #73 on: 04/25/2022 01:08 pm »
More than half of them, most likely. Bot most of these are concepts with hardly any funding.
Some news will come out in 1hour and 23minutes.
let's be less cryptic:
https://mobile.twitter.com/BMWK/status/1518519874988953600
« Last Edit: 06/19/2022 02:27 pm by Rik ISS-fan »

Offline Rik ISS-fan

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Re: European new micro launchers
« Reply #74 on: 04/25/2022 02:51 pm »
The second winner of the German BOOST! micro-launcher competition was just announced.
Rocket Factory Augsburg with their RFA one launcher won 11mln for one of 150kg institutional payloads on both their first two launches.
HyImpulse didn't win became third in the competition, but I expect they'll attract some business with their SR-75.

at 8min into the video the announcement starts. It's in German.
https://twitter.com/BMWK/status/1518596857143955456
DLR Article (in German): finale des mikrolauncher wettbewerbs
« Last Edit: 04/26/2022 05:22 am by Rik ISS-fan »

Offline su27k

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Re: European new micro launchers
« Reply #75 on: 09/13/2022 01:49 am »
ArianeGroup CEO takes shots at European launch startups

Quote from: getrevue.co
Over the weekend, Belgian business news outlet L'Echo published a revealing conversation with ArianeGroup CEO André-Hubert Roussel. It should be noted upfront that my version of the article has been Google translated from the original French. This obviously does mean that there may be subtleties lost in translation.

In the article, the ArianeGroup boss took aim at the numerous launch startups around Europe, decrying the fact that these companies were pulling resources away from Ariane. Roussel took aim at the German microlauncher companies Rocket Factory Augsburg, Isar Aerospace, and HyImpulse in particular, although he did not name them directly.

Offline bolun

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Re: European new micro launchers
« Reply #76 on: 09/13/2022 09:27 pm »
Cross post:

ESA Boost! for RFA One Launch Services

Quote
Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA), a German startup developing the three-stage RFA One orbital launch vehicle designed to operate at a high cadence, has received a contract worth €11.72 m from ESA's Boost! commercial space transportation services programme.

Offline TrevorMonty

Re: European new micro launchers
« Reply #77 on: 09/13/2022 10:30 pm »
ArianeGroup CEO takes shots at European launch startups

Quote from: getrevue.co
Over the weekend, Belgian business news outlet L'Echo published a revealing conversation with ArianeGroup CEO André-Hubert Roussel. It should be noted upfront that my version of the article has been Google translated from the original French. This obviously does mean that there may be subtleties lost in translation.

In the article, the ArianeGroup boss took aim at the numerous launch startups around Europe, decrying the fact that these companies were pulling resources away from Ariane. Roussel took aim at the German microlauncher companies Rocket Factory Augsburg, Isar Aerospace, and HyImpulse in particular, although he did not name them directly.
Arianespace doesn't like when somebody else is milking their ESA cash cow.

Offline baldusi

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Re: European new micro launchers
« Reply #78 on: 09/14/2022 05:07 pm »
ArianeGroup CEO takes shots at European launch startups

Quote from: getrevue.co
Over the weekend, Belgian business news outlet L'Echo published a revealing conversation with ArianeGroup CEO André-Hubert Roussel. It should be noted upfront that my version of the article has been Google translated from the original French. This obviously does mean that there may be subtleties lost in translation.

In the article, the ArianeGroup boss took aim at the numerous launch startups around Europe, decrying the fact that these companies were pulling resources away from Ariane. Roussel took aim at the German microlauncher companies Rocket Factory Augsburg, Isar Aerospace, and HyImpulse in particular, although he did not name them directly.
Arianespace doesn't like when somebody else is milking their ESA cash cow.

Especially when a startup like RFA can develop a ORSC RP-1 "small" engine for the price Ariane charges for a study. The fact that OHB is the main investor in RFA, obviously doesn't help.

Offline FutureSpaceTourist

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Re: European new micro launchers
« Reply #79 on: 10/07/2022 08:10 am »
https://twitter.com/andrewparsonson/status/1578289786384969734

Quote
Slight update to my European launch vehicle graphic. I have added @Avio_Group's unnamed next-gen launch vehicle and the @PangeaAerospace aerospace Meso launch vehicle. I may make a version of the graphic available in my soon-to-be-launched European Spaceflight store.

Attached graphic from: https://europeanspaceflight.com/home/european-spaceflight-infographics/
« Last Edit: 10/07/2022 08:11 am by FutureSpaceTourist »

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