Prometheus: The Engine
Demonstrator of the Future Passes Its Definition
Review
4 February 2019
Prometheus is a program of
the European Space Agency (ESA) initiated with
the French space agency CNES (Centre National
d’Etudes Spatiales). The contract awarded to
ArianeGroup by ESA in December 2017 covers the
design, construction and testing of the first
two examples of the very low cost engine
demonstrator, which uses liquid oxygen and
methane technology and is potentially reusable.
Prometheus is a precursor
of the future engines intended for use by
European space launchers by 2030. The innovative
technologies and industrial processes developed
for this demonstrator program will also be used
for the propulsion upgrades of Ariane 6.
The Definition Review of
the program was held from 30 November to 1
February on the ArianeGroup sites in Vernon
(France) and Ottobrunn (Germany). It was
conducted by teams from
ArianeGroup and ESA, supported by experts from
the French and German space agencies, CNES and
DLR (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft-und Raumfahrt).
“This successful milestone
of the Prometheus program shows that the teams
of ArianeGroup and their partners have been able
to bring innovative design to market in an
extremely short time barely a year after the
contract was signed by ESA. This success
demonstrates the pertinence of our technological
choices and confirms the ambitious cost
objectives we have set for ourselves. It
perfectly illustrates the effectiveness of the
new working methods we have implemented with our
European partners”, stated André-Hubert Roussel,
CEO of ArianeGroup. “This step is extremely
important, less than one year before Space19+,
the ESA Ministerial Conference. It encourages us
to be ever more daring in terms of technological
developments, organization and working methods,
so that we can make the European launchers ever
more competitive to fulfill the missions for our
institutional and commercial customers. Thanks
to all the teams for this crucial success, which
encourages space Europe to go still further.”
The goal of the Prometheus
demonstrator is to be able to build future
liquid propellant engines in the 100 tons of
thrust class, at a cost ten times less than the
production cost of an existing engine such as
the Vulcain®2.
The success of a
technological challenge of this nature rests on
a completely new design: over and above the
change in the traditional Ariane propellant
(switching from the liquid oxygen and hydrogen
pair to liquid oxygen and methane), the
demonstrator will entail major developments,
including the digitization of engine control and
diagnostics. It also depends on the use of
innovative design and production methods and
tools, including manufacturing using 3D printing
in a connected factory environment.
The next major step of the
program is the Manufacturing Readiness Review
(MRR) which will precede the production of both
demonstrators in the first half of 2019. Testing
of those two examples of the Precursor is
scheduled on the P5 test stand at the DLR in
Lampoldshausen (Germany) in 2020.