If Elon Musk is right, the rockets that have not been designed to be totally reusable They will stop making sense Once Starship manages to land and reuse his second stage. Not to fall into the sack of irrelevancethe European Space Agency has just signed a contract with the Italian company Avio to develop its own mini-nave starship.
The contract. Avio, already manufactures the European rockets Vegawill receive 40 million euros from ESA to design a reusable rocket stage. The contract lasts for 24 months. During this time, the Italian company will be responsible for defining the requirements, system design and technologies necessary to create a higher stage capable of returning to Earth safely and, something no less important, reused in recurring missions.
The agreement closed on Monday During the International Astronautics Congress of Sydney marks a new milestone in the transition of European rockets towards total reuse. A strategy that, following the path marked by Spacex, seeks to reduce costs and increase the frequency of space releases.
A clear inspiration. Although the technical details are still scarce, the conceptual image that accompanies the announcement is … revealing. Shows a two -stage rocket whose upper part undeniably remembers the Spacex Starshipalthough on a much smaller scale. The Avio rocket would be 36.5 meters high, compared to 123 meters of Elon Musk’s Martian system.
As for the engine type, analyst Andrew Parsonson writes in European Spaceflight that Avio could take advantage of his experience in liquid methane and oxygen systems, reusing technology from his MR10 engines, currently in development for the future Covete Vega E.
And the first stage? According to ESA, the Abarca project Both the flight segment and the groundbut not for that reason the first integrated versions of the rocket will be totally reusable. In the sketch, the European mini-starship seems to be stacked on a solid fuel propeller P120C, which uses the Vega C. rocket
In a two -stage rocket, the first spear to the second to space, and the second displays the satellites in the desired orbit before exorbiting. The European race to manufacture a rocket with a first reusable stage is already underway, and PLD Space is located Among the candidates to get it. But developing a superior stage also reusable is a more ambitious and complex objective. The question is how much advantage Europe will have trimmed with this first investment.
Images | Avio, that
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