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Raumfahrt - ArianeGroup successfully tests innovative technology for next generation upper stage rocket engine

18.06.2018

  •   First ETID demonstrator successfully hot fire tested by ArianeGroup on DLR test bench in Lampoldshausen. Key milestone for ArianeGroup, lead contractor for Ariane 5 and the future Ariane 6 to already prepare launcher improvements after 2025

  •   ETID or Expander-cycle Technology Integrated Demonstrator is a full-scale demonstrator of the innovative thrust chamber for a future upper-stage rocket engine incorporating the newest propulsion technologies

    Lampoldshausen, 18 June 2018

A full-scale demonstrator of the thrust chamber for an upper-stage rocket engine incorporating the newest propulsion technologies has successfully passed first hot firing tests at the DLR German Aerospace Center P3.2 test facility in Lampoldshausen.

The Expander-cycle Technology Integrated Demonstrator, ETID, will help to prove innovative technologies, materials and manufacturing techniques. It is tested in the frame of ESA’s Future Launchers Preparatory Programme, aiming to increase the future competitiveness of European launchers by creating ready-made technical solutions, which can be transferred for quick development projects with minimal cost, effort and risk.

Different technologies and methods of manufacture have been tested, such as additive manufacturing, laser ignition and cost-efficient materials. In addition, components will be tested to lay the foundations for a future ‘smart’ engine.

ETID is a precursor of the next generation of a rocket engine in the 10-tonne thrust class.

Upper-stage engines operate in specific conditions such as vacuum and weightlessness that are difficult to reproduce on the ground, and involve significant development risks that have to be mitigated.

By the end of the year, ETID will have been hot fired up to 20 times, each test run lasting 120 seconds, in conditions similar to those in space, with a near-vacuum provided by the test stand.

Quelle: ArianeGroup

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