Recently, the European Space Agency and Ariane Group (Paris), the main contractor and design agency of the Ariane 6 launch vehicle, signed a new technology development contract to explore the use of carbon fiber composite materials to achieve Lightweight of the upper stage of the Liana 6 launch vehicle.
This goal is part of the PHOEBUS (Highly Optimized Black Superior Prototype) plan. The Ariane Group reports that the plan will significantly reduce the upper-level manufacturing cost and increase the maturity of lightweight technology.
According to the Ariane Group, the continuous improvement of the Ariane 6 launcher, including the use of composite technology, is the key to further enhancing its competitiveness. MT Aerospace (Augsburg, Germany) will jointly design and test the PHOEBUS advanced low-temperature composite storage tank technology prototype with Ariane Group. This cooperation began in May 2019, and the initial A/B1 phase design contract will continue under the European Space Agency contract.
Pierre Godart, CEO of Ariane Group, said: “One of the main challenges currently facing is to ensure the compactness and robustness of the composite material to cope with the extremely low temperature and highly permeable liquid hydrogen.” This new contract Demonstrating the confidence of the European Space Agency and the German Space Agency, our team and our partner MT Aerospace, we have worked with them for a long time, especially on the metal components of Ariane 6. We will continue to work together to keep Germany and Europe at the forefront of cryogenic composite technology for liquid hydrogen and oxygen storage. “
In order to prove the maturity of all necessary technologies, Ariane Group stated that it will contribute its know-how in launch-level technology and system integration, while MT Aerospace will be responsible for materials used in composite storage tanks and structures under low temperature conditions. And technology.
The technology developed under the contract will be integrated into a superior demonstrator from 2023 to prove that the system is compatible with the liquid oxygen-hydrogen mixture on a large scale. Ariane Group stated that its ultimate goal with PHOEBUS is to pave the way for further Ariane 6-level development and to introduce cryogenic composite storage tank technology for the aviation sector.
Post time: Jun-10-2021