Spaceflight

The European Space Agency (ESA) is to replace its Ariane 5 Plus engine development effort with the follow-on Ariane Consolidation and Evolution Programme (ACEP) by the end of the year.

ACEP will develop small improvements to Arianespace’s 9.6t-to-geostationary-orbit (GTO) Ariane 5 ECA launcher to guarantee its remaining operational life time of 10-15 years. Ground operations will also be a focus for ACEP. The aim is to reduce costs to ensure Ariane launches are competitive. “We need a better Ariane 5 by 2012. The consolidation and evolution programme will look at new technologies. We will develop a new nozzle extension,” says Ariane 5 Plus Vinci engine development project manager Uwe Berkes.

The Ariane 5 Plus programme will carry out two test firings in September of its Vinci M-2 engine at the German DLR’s facility in Lampoldhausen, Germany. ACEP will use the Vinci M-3 engine, which is identical to the M-2. The Vinci engine is a new re-ignitable cryogenic upper-stage engine, which does not require a gas generator to drive its two turbo-pumps for the liquid hydrogen fuel and liquid oxygen oxidiser.

Vinci would provide 39,650lb (175kN) of thrust in a vacuum with a specific impulse of 465s. It was supposed to be the engine that would give the Ariane 5 a 12t-to-GTO capability. That variant would have been called the Ariane 5 ECB, but the failure of the maiden flight of the 9.6t-to-GTO ECA variant in 2002 meant resources were diverted for that version’s completion.

At the ESA ministerial council on 5-6 December the new Ariane budget, which includes ACEP, should be approved. ACEP would start in January. The Future Launcher Preparatory Programme aims to develop by 2020 an Ariane 5 replacement.