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Aviation History
1998
1998 - 1832.PDF
The complete cycle The ARD re-entry demonstrator will prove Europe's capability to perform a full space mission cycle JULIAN MOXON/PARIS IN OCTOBER, the Ariane 503 launcher will release a cone-shaped craft on a re-entry mis sion, repeating what the USA first did with the Mercury capsule 3 7 years ago. While this may seem like re-inventing the wheel, the Atmospheric Re-entry Demon strator (ARD) mission is designed to show that, after several false starts, Europe has developed a capability for performing a full space mission cycle - from launch, to orbit and the return to Earth. Not only that, but it will do so with unprece dented landing accuracy for a fully automatic vehicle - and on a minimal budget of ECU40 million ($36 million) - reflecting the "smaller, faster, cheaper" philosophy borrowed from NASA that was considered essential if the ARD was ever to see the light of day. The need for economy was such that lead contractor Aerospatiale was allowed to choose its ARD partners on merit rather than by the traditional European Space Agency (ESA) principle of "geographic return", under which countries have to be given a share of the work proportional to their financial input. RE-ENTRY DEMONSTRATION In terms of the actual re-entry mission, ESA is not claiming any major technological advances with the ARD. "The point of it is more to demonstrate that we have a re-entry capability that ensures we're not locked out of any future return-to-Earth missions," says Aerospatiale head of manned spaceflight Gerard Breard. He makes no secret of the French company's hopes for the ARD, saying: "It is behind our efforts to convince ESA to pursue a European return-to- Earth vehicle." Breard believes it to be "essential" that Europe is not left without an independent return-to-Earth capability, leaving it with no choice but to use US or Russian vehicles to bring astronauts and equipment back from the The ARD re-entry demonstrator is designed to show that Europe can perform a full space mission International Space Station (ISS), or elsewhere. "The ARD is a meaningful and helpful tool to understand better all aspects of re-entry: mate rials, avionics and recovery," says ESA director of manned spaceflight Jorg Feustel-Buechl. "Bringing a vehicle from 28,000km/h to Okm/h involves solving enormous guidance, tempera ture and other issues," he adds Talk of a follow-on to the Ariane 5 launcher GARETH BURGESS 98 Fairing separation 3min 13s 115km . EPC separation 10min ARD* separation 12min2s 300km centres on a re-usable lifting-body vehicle, for which the ARD is seen as providing vital input. "Re-usability will be on the table," says Feustel- Buechl, "and, to do so, we must have the knowhow for the crucial missing element - the return to Earth and, for that matter, descent into the atmospheres of other planetary bodies." The ARD story is complicated, however, by European involvement in the NASAX-38 re- ARD mission profile EPS «* boost into orbit ARD manoeuvres into automated re-entry 43min 21s 830km Satellite separations EAP separation 2min21s 70km EPC burns up ARD re-entry 1h 19min 120km ARD blackout 50-90km "parach u tes^^' deploy 1h 28min 12s ilkkmT 30 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 8 - 14 July 1998
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