Europe is prepping a prototype of a reusable launch vehicle, slated to undergo a series of test flights in Sweden. Planning for the tests will start this August. Astrium of Bremen, Germany, the leading European aerospace firm is fabricating the prototype vehicle, called Phoenix, for the flights.
The Phoenix is part of a European effort to harness reusable launch vehicle (RLV) technologies.
Central to the RLV work is decreasing the cost of pushing payloads into orbit. Another factor is safeguarding Europe's competitive position in the global launch market in the medium and long term future. Europe seeks additional cost-effective ways to access space that may be used independent of other nations.
Hoisted high into the air
The Esrange Division of the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) announced this week that Phoenix will be tested at the Vidsel test range in northern Sweden.
A major test objective is to verify the fully automatic landing system of the Phoenix. The prototype RLV is 23 feet (6.9 meters) long and hits the scale at 2,640 pounds (1200 kilograms). It has a wingspan of nearly 13 feet (3.8 meters).
For the tests, Phoenix will be dropped by helicopter from an altitude of a one-and-a-half miles (2.5- kilometers). Coasting down toward the ground, the craft will maneuver to an automated runway touchdown. Satellite-based navigation and onboard sensors, such as a radar altimeter, will control and monitor Phoenix during free-fall flight. The vehicle will not have a propulsion system of its own for the flight tests.
The series of drop tests will help certify design features of the Phoenix that can't be demonstrated by computer simulation or through wind tunnel checkouts. Phoenix tests are to be completed by the end of 2003, according to an Astrium fact sheet supplied to SPACE.com.
The SSC and the Testing Directorate of the Swedish Defense Materiel Administration have agreed to work with Astrium in putting Phoenix though its paces. The joint effort is to be carried out within NEAT, the North European Aerospace Test Range, a location that handles sounding rocket and stratospheric balloon launches, as well as missile firings.
HOPPER on the skid sled
As a miniature RLV, Phoenix is to prove out technologies needed for Europe's HOPPER - a much larger autonomous space transportation system.
HOPPER would be launched horizontally on a skid sled running on miles of track. Plans call for HOPPER to be launched from the European Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana.
The unpiloted HOPPER is designed to carry payloads up to 7.5 tons, deploying spacecraft affixed to an upper stage booster from its tail at over 80 miles (130 kilometers) altitude. The RLV then automatically returns to Earth.
According to Astrium, should the European Space Agency decide to pursue the HOPPER concept, the vehicle could be ready for use by the year 2015.
advertisement
