FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1983
1983 - 0097.PDF
SPACEFLIGHT What next in space, Europe? PARIS America is clear about its next major space venture—it wants to build a space station. For Europe, the future is less obvious. The European Space Agency sees three main options: • Reduce launch cost through re-usable rocket elements. • Create an unmanned mod ule in low-Earth orbit, and the ability to transport cargo to and from it. • Participate in the USA's space station. ESA aims to choose one of these, or a combination, by 1985. Aerospatiale is exploring the first option for ESA under a study begun last autumn. It envisages an unmanned two- stage rocket. The first stage would copy Shuttle in landing on a runway after each flight (see sketch below). It would be re-used 10-15 times, much less than the Shuttle Orbiter's 100-mission design life. Four engines would power the first stage, which would be fuelled by liquid oxygen and a hydrocarbon such as propane. They would be common with the engine of the second stage, which would consume liquid oxygen and hydrogen. Ballistic entry and para chute recovery of the second stage is an option. Like Ariane, the new launcher would be optimised for carry ing satellites to geostationary orbit. Aerospatiale draws on its experience with Ariane and missiles in conducting the study, which is due to end in July. It is aided by Dornier on the first-stage entry and land ing, Marconi for autoland, and by Erno for recovery of the second stage. Europe's second major course would be to develop an unmanned space station. This would provide regular access to weightlessness, rather like Shuttle, but in a less sophis ticated way. Ariane 4 would act as the ferry from Earth to the complex, and the return journey would be made in a capsule braked by atmos pheric drag (see picture opposite). Potential uses include materials processing, re fuelling spacecraft, and assembly of structures. Excluding man from the system promises to save a lot of money, and could make sense for routine tasks such as the manufacture of drugs or exotic alloys. If Europe does follow this path, indepen dence from America may- prove important. Ariane, for example, has already demon strated the value of self- Matra and Erno are studying regular access to low-Earth orbit. Materials processing is one use for an unmanned orbiting module reliance in launchers. Matra has teamed with Erno to study this "on-orbit infrastructure" for ESA, in competition with Aerospatiale and General Technology Systems. Areas requiring development include rendez vous, docking, and robotics. Europe's third avenue of choice, sharing in a US space station, is the only one domi nated by man's presence. ESA lacks the financial resources to develop a manned space station independently, and it would be illogical to repeat work done by the USA. But co-operation means political and industrial ties. One European option is to reduce launch cost. Aerospatiale envisages an unmanned, two-stage launcher. The first stage glides to a runway landing, and the second may be recovered by parachute Like Nasa, ESA has com missioned a study on poten tial uses of a space station. Led by West German research agency DFVLR, the first feed back from this $200,000 study is due this month. The brief includes possible European missions between 1990 and 2000, and operational aspects. DFVLR is aided by several companies, including Aeri- talia, British Aerospace Dynamics, Erno, and Matra. The studv is due to end in late 1983, and ESA plans to send Nasa a copy of its "fact-finding" element. At the end of this year, ESA should have a better idea of what space station is desirable. Nasa sees its space station mainly as a node in a trans portation system, a sort of stepping stone to higher orbits. It also expects military participation, which could be a hurdle to co-operation with ESA, whose charter prevents military activity. If Europe opts to join the USA in such a venture, it will be looking for a significant share and return on in vestment. ESA believes that it deserves a better return than it received from Spacelab, simply because it now has more technological expertise. Europe has spent about $1,000 million in creating Ariane and almost as much again on Spacelab. This sug gests that a total of $2,000 million will be available for Europe's next major venture— other things being the same. FLIGHT International, 15 January 1983
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
