ArianeGroup Signs Contract with ESA to Develop Themis Reusable Stage Demonstrator
- The European Space Agency (ESA) has awarded ArianeGroup the contract for the initial development phase of the Themis reusable rocket stage demonstrator
- This first contract, worth 33 million euros, was awarded to ArianeGroup following preparatory work done by ArianeWorks, the innovation accelerator platform created by the French space agency CNES and ArianeGroup
- Themis, powered by the Prometheus engine, will enable Europe to develop technologies for future low-cost reusable launchers
PARIS (ArianeGroup PR) — ArianeGroup has received a 33-million-euro contract from the European Space Agency (ESA), to begin the first development phase for the Themis reusable rocket stage demonstrator. Themis will use Prometheus, the very low-cost rocket engine demonstrator currently under development as an ESA programme.
The aim of the project, developed through the ArianeWorks platform, is to demonstrate Europe’s technological capacity in the field of reusability so that by 2022 the ESA member states will be in a position to determine the range of launchers most suited to the needs of Europe around 2030 based on available technologies, the requirements of Europe, and the evolution of the global space market.
“In a global context where the leading space powers are investing heavily in their launch systems and developing technologies with a focus on competitiveness, even domination, the sustainability of European access to space is more than ever a strategic issue. It is therefore essential to develop today the technologies that will be part of the launch vehicles of the next decades. This first contract for the development of a reusable rocket stage demonstrator is a clear sign of this ambition,” said ArianeGroup CEO André-Hubert Roussel. “Powered by the Prometheus engine demonstrator, running on liquid oxygen-methane or oxygen-hydrogen combinations, Themis will lead to the proving and development of very low-cost launcher solutions, while contributing to energy transition to a more eco-responsible space launcher sector.”
The first prototype of the very low-cost, potentially reusable engine Prometheus is currently being assembled. It was developed for ESA on the ArianeGroup sites of Ottobrunn in Bavaria (Germany) and Vernon in Normandy (France), and is due to be tested at the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) facility in Lampoldshausen (Baden-Württemberg, Germany).
Prometheus is developed under ESA contract and is the precursor of future European space rocket engines. It could be in use beginning in 2025 on an Ariane 6 potential evolution and is also designed to equip a retro-firing landing stage. It is therefore a key technological step in Themis development.
The Themis program is the first “agile” development deployed on a large scale in the space sector in Europe. Pre-developed in under a year by the ArianeWorks innovation accelerator platform (a cooperation between ArianeGroup and CNES), it was approved at the ESA “Space 19+” Conference last year.
The Themis demonstrator should make it possible to fast-track trial of all the technological building blocks necessary for reusability of a complete rocket main stage. A first full scale tank has already been installed on the PF20 test zone at ArianeGroup’s Vernon site, where Ariane 1 was tested.
The Themis team already brings together French, Swedish, Belgian, and Swiss industrial partners, and will be expanded to include other European partners in the coming months to prepare for the up-coming phases. Sub-orbital flight tests are scheduled to begin in 2023 from the Guiana Space Centre (CSG) in Kourou, French Guiana.
About ArianeGroup
ArianeGroup develops and supplies innovative and competitive solutions for civil and military space launchers, with expertise in all aspects of state-of-the-art propulsion technologies. ArianeGroup is lead contractor for Europe’s Ariane 5 and Ariane 6 launcher families, responsible for both design and the entire production chain, up to and including marketing by its Arianespace subsidiary, as well as for the missiles of the French oceanic deterrent force. ArianeGroup and its subsidiaries enjoy a global reputation as specialists in the field of equipment and propulsion for space applications, while their expertise also benefits other industrial sectors. The group is a joint venture equally owned by Airbus and Safran, and employs approximately 9,000 highly qualified staff in France and Germany. Its 2019 revenues amounted to 3.1 billion euros.
11 responses to “ArianeGroup Signs Contract with ESA to Develop Themis Reusable Stage Demonstrator”
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Am I reading that right, they don’t anticipate hop testing until 2022?
‘Sub-orbital flight tests are scheduled to begin in 2023 from the Guiana Space Centre’, though I wouldn’t be surprised to see this slip into 2024 or beyond… however, I’d love to be proved wrong.
10+ years too late.
At least Europe is starting on the road to reusability. As usual, they’re late and they’re slow. That still beats standing pat on the status quo.
The rest of the launch world nations – except maybe the Russians, who can’t really afford to do much of anything new – will all eventually produce their own versions of Falcon 9-ish reusability. By the time most of them do, the F9, itself, will have entered honorable retirement. Then the rest of the launcher nations can get started on copying SH-Starship in time to be 20 years behind that when they finally succeed.
Perhaps by mid-century no nation will be launching expendable rockets anymore. Considering that humanity will be spacefaring from here on out, a couple or three more decades to get even the slowest learners up to speed may not look like that big a deal a century hence, however annoying it seems now.
To be honest, it’s not so much Europe as government funded programs in general because the same is true in the USA, Russia, China and everywhere else.
Having actively supported the development of fully reusable launchers for almost four decades, both directly and indirectly, I rationalize this situation as being somewhat inevitable because government programs tend to be conservative and avoid risk taking unless absolutely necessary (e.g. during times of national emergencies, which what justified Apollo). More importantly, they are designed/agreed by committees that take time to make decisions that end up being a compromise between competing groups with very different agendas. SpaceX represents the completely oposite paradigm because it’s effectively directed by an individual who only has to say “make it so” for things to get done.
Clearly, this is a rather simple view that ignores real-world issues like funding, which is in turn driven by markets and demand for services. However, I think it serves to help understand why it’s taken us almost half a century to progress beyond Apollo in terms our access to space and our first sustainable steps towards building a truly solar-system wide society and economy.
That’s what the little pictures show.
So ESA will be a full decade behind SpaceX at that point – assuming it makes that date. After that, it looks as though the plan is to stay 10 years behind SpaceX’s Falcon 9 situation. I suspect ESA will prove slower in getting to every point of comparability with SpaceX’s F9 development timeline than SpaceX was. So that suggests ESA will be significantly more than a decade behind by the time their real vehicle becomes operational.
All that said, at least ESA is finally, however reluctantly, on a track that can eventually lead somewhere useful. That was not inevitable.
Dragged kicking and screaming
…by 2022 the ESA member states will be in a position to determine the range of launchers most suited to the needs of Europe around 2030…
Huh? Best of luck with that plan…
Simple, factor Apple Gizmos & Space-X Gadgets with Major Electric using Nations transitioning towards “Green” Energy. Then, take the Population Growth trends, subtract for Pandemics, multiplied by the variable… Well, no… I don’t get it, not a clue.
At the Rate Space-X is going with Starship, not to mention the Dark Horse Blue Orgin, or Vulcan from ULA, I am having a hard time understanding this, what, 2022 position to determine Europes 2030 needs theory?
I am missing much. Any helpful suggestions?
Yes. Look at it as a jobs program. Europe will never be able to compete with SpaceX…but it will never give up it’s launch capability. And throwing a little money toward re-usability makes it look good.