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Ariane 6
Ariane 6 is a European expendable launch system currently under development since the early 2010s by ArianeGroup on behalf of the European Space Agency (ESA). It is intended to replace the Ariane 5, as part of the Ariane launch vehicle family. The stated motivation for Ariane 6 (as of 2015) was to halve the cost compared to Ariane 5, and increase the capacity for the number of launches per year (from six or seven to up to eleven). Ariane 6 is designed with two core stages both powered by liquid hydrogen-liquid oxygen ( hydrolox) engines. The first stage has an improved version of the Vulcain engine already used on the Ariane 5, whilst the second stage has a newly designed Vinci engine. Most of the initial lift-off thrust is provided by solid rocket boosters attached to the first stage: either two or four P120s (Ariane 62 and Ariane 64 variants respectively), which are larger versions of the P80s used on the Vega rocket. Selection of the design concept was made by ESA in ...
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Vinci (rocket Engine)
Vinci is a European Space Agency cryogenic liquid rocket engine currently under development. It is designed to power the new upper stage of Ariane 6. Overview Vinci is an expander cycle rocket engine fed with liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. Its biggest improvement from its predecessor, the HM7B (which powers the ESC-A), is the capability of restarting up to five times. It is also the first European expander cycle engine, removing the need for a gas generator to drive the fuel and oxidizer pumps. The engine features a carbon ceramic extendable nozzle in order to have a large, 2.15 m diameter nozzle extension with minimum length: the retracted nozzle part is deployed only after the upper stage separates from the rest of the rocket; after extension, the engine's overall length increases from 2.3 m to 4.2 m. Development Although the ESC-B development was put on hold in 2003, the Vinci project was not cancelled: at a lower pace, the engine is still being develope ...
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Ariane 5
Ariane 5 is a European heavy-lift space launch vehicle developed and operated by Arianespace for the European Space Agency (ESA). It is launched from the Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG) in French Guiana. It has been used to deliver payloads into geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) or low Earth orbit (LEO). The launch vehicle had a streak of 82 consecutive successful launches between 9 April 2003 and 12 December 2017. Since 2014, Ariane 6, a direct successor system, is in development. The system was designed as an expendable launch system by the '' Centre national d'études spatiales'' (CNES), the French government's space agency, in cooperation with various European partners. Despite not being a direct derivative of its predecessor launch vehicle program, it is classified as part of the Ariane rocket family. ArianeGroup is the prime contractor for the manufacturing of the vehicles, leading a multi-country consortium of other European contractors. Ariane 5 was originally inten ...
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P120 (rocket Stage)
P120 is a solid-fuel first-stage rocket motor developed by Avio and ArianeGroup through the joint venture Europropulsion on behalf of European Space Agency for use on Vega C and Ariane 6. "C" in P120C stands for "Common" as it will be shared by Ariane 6 and Vega-C. In July 2022, with its inaugural flight, it replaced its predecessor P80 as the world's largest and most powerful one-piece solid-fuel rocket motor. History The production of ''P120C'' was originally planned to be shared by the main Avio facility in Colleferro, Italy and by OHB-owned MT Aerospace facility of Augsburg, Germany. At the 17–18 May 2018 meeting of the ESA launcher program board in it was decided the production of ''P120C'' will be done in its full capacity in Italy. Mt Aerospace will instead produce turbo pumps for the upcoming Ariane 6 rocket originally awarded to Avio. The first test firing of ''P120C'' was carried out on 16 July 2018 on the BEAP test bench at the Europe's spaceport Guiana ...
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ArianeGroup
ArianeGroup (formerly Airbus Safran Launchers) is an aerospace company based in France. A joint venture between Airbus and Safran, the company was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Issy-les-Moulineaux. It consists of three core arms: aerospace, defence and security. ArianeGroup is currently developing its next-generation two-stage Ariane 6 launch vehicle, intended to succeed the Ariane 5 rocket, which has been launched more than 110 times. The new vehicle will be offered in two variants that will be capable of carrying between 10,350 and 21,650 kilograms. The first launch of Ariane 6 is expected to occur in 2023. If the company's task is to develop and manufacture the launch vehicles, Arianespace acts as the launch service provider for them. Meanwhile, another subsidiary, ArianeWorks, is tasked with developing next-generation technologies like the reusable Themis rocket booster. ArianeGroup also notably manufactures France's M51 nuclear submarine-launched ballistic miss ...
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Guiana Space Centre
The Guiana Space Centre (french: links=no, Centre spatial guyanais; CSG), also called Europe's Spaceport, is a European spaceport to the northwest of Kourou in French Guiana, a region of France in South America. Kourou is located approximately north of the equator, at a latitude of 5°. In operation since 1968, it is suitable as a location for a spaceport, because of its equatorial location and open sea to the east. The European Space Agency (ESA), the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA), the French space agency CNES (National Centre for Space Studies), the Space Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan (Azercosmos) and the commercial company Arianespace conduct launches from Kourou. It was used by the ESA to send supplies to the International Space Station using the Automated Transfer Vehicle. History In 1964 Guiana was selected to become the spaceport of France, replacing France's first launch site Centre interarmées d'essais d'engins spéciaux in Hammagu ...
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Medium-lift Launch Vehicle
A medium-lift launch vehicle (MLV) is a rocket launch vehicle that is capable of lifting between by NASA classification or between by Russian classification of payload into low Earth orbit (LEO).50t payloads" An MLV is between small-lift launch vehicles and heavy-lift launch vehicles. Rated launch vehicles Operational Under development Retired Gallery File:Atlas-B ICBM.jpg, Launch of an Atlas B intercontinental ballistic missile File:Launch of Friendship 7 - GPN-2000-000686.jpg, Launch of the first American crewed orbital space flight Atlas and Friendship 7 File:SpX CRS-2 launch - further - cropped.jpg, A Falcon 9 v1.0 launches with an uncrewed Dragon spacecraft, 2012 File:SpaceX factory Falcon 9 booster tank.jpg, Falcon 9 booster tank at the SpaceX factory, 2008 File:02 Launch of GSLV Mk III D2 with GSAT-29 from Second Launch Pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota (SDSC SHAR).jpg, Launch of GSLV Mk lll D2 with GSAT-29 from SHAR, India. See also * ...
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Liquid Oxygen
Liquid oxygen—abbreviated LOx, LOX or Lox in the aerospace, submarine and gas industries—is the liquid form of molecular oxygen. It was used as the oxidizer in the first liquid-fueled rocket invented in 1926 by Robert H. Goddard, an application which has continued to the present. Physical properties Liquid oxygen has a pale blue color and is strongly paramagnetic: it can be suspended between the poles of a powerful horseshoe magnet. Liquid oxygen has a density of , slightly denser than liquid water, and is cryogenic with a freezing point of and a boiling point of at . Liquid oxygen has an expansion ratio of 1:861 under and , and because of this, it is used in some commercial and military aircraft as a transportable source of breathing oxygen. Because of its cryogenic nature, liquid oxygen can cause the materials it touches to become extremely brittle. Liquid oxygen is also a very powerful oxidizing agent: organic materials will burn rapidly and energetically in l ...
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Liquid Hydrogen
Liquid hydrogen (LH2 or LH2) is the liquid state of the element hydrogen. Hydrogen is found naturally in the molecular H2 form. To exist as a liquid, H2 must be cooled below its critical point of 33  K. However, for it to be in a fully liquid state at atmospheric pressure, H2 needs to be cooled to .IPTS-1968
iupac.org, accessed 2020-01-01
A common method of obtaining liquid hydrogen involves a compressor resembling a jet engine in both appearance and principle. Liquid hydrogen is typically used as a concentrated form of hydrogen storage. Storing it as liquid takes less space than storing it as a gas at normal temperature and pressure ...
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Vulcain (rocket Engine)
Vulcain is a family of European first stage rocket engines for Ariane 5 and the future Ariane 6. Its development began in 1988 and the first flight was completed in 1996. The updated version of the engine, Vulcain 2, was first successfully flown in 2005. Both members of the family use liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen cryogenic fuel. The new version under development for Ariane 6 will be called Vulcain 2.1. History The Vulcain rocket engine is named in French for Vulcan, the ancient Roman god of fire. Its development, carried out by a European partnership, began in 1988 with the Ariane 5 rocket program. It first flew in 1996 powering the ill-fated flight 501 without being the cause of the disaster, and had its first successful flight in 1997 (flight 502). In 2002 the upgraded Vulcain 2 with 20% more thrust first flew on flight 157, although a problem with the engine turned the flight into a failure. The cause was due to flight loads being much higher than expected, as the in ...
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Hydrolox
The highest specific impulse chemical rockets use liquid propellants (liquid-propellant rockets). They can consist of a single chemical (a monopropellant) or a mix of two chemicals, called bipropellants. Bipropellants can further be divided into two categories; hypergolic propellants, which ignite when the fuel and oxidizer make contact, and non-hypergolic propellants which require an ignition source. About 170 different propellants made of liquid fuel have been tested, excluding minor changes to a specific propellant such as propellant additives, corrosion inhibitors, or stabilizers. In the U.S. alone at least 25 different propellant combinations have been flown. As of 2020, no completely new propellant has been used since the mid-1970s. Many factors go into choosing a propellant for a liquid-propellant rocket engine. The primary factors include ease of operation, cost, hazards/environment and performance. History Development in early 20th century Konstantin Tsiolkovsky pr ...
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Lunar Transfer Orbit
A trans-lunar injection (TLI) is a Orbital maneuver, propulsive maneuver used to set a spacecraft on a trajectory that will cause it to arrive at the Moon. History The first space probe to attempt TLI was the Soviet Union's Luna 1 on January 2, 1959 which was designed to impact the Moon. The burn however didn't go exactly as planned and the spacecraft missed the Moon by more than three times its radius and was sent into a heliocentric orbit. Luna 2 performed the same maneuver more accurately on September 12, 1959 and crashed into the Moon two days later. The Soviets repeated this success with 22 more Luna programme, Luna missions and 5 Zond program, Zond missions travelling to the Moon between 1959 and 1976. The United States launched its first lunar impactor attempt, Ranger 3, on January 26, 1962, which failed to reach the Moon. This was followed by the first US success, Ranger 4, on April 23, 1962. Another 27 US missions to the Moon were launched from 1962 to 1973, includin ...
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Solid Rocket Booster
A solid rocket booster (SRB) is a large solid propellant motor used to provide thrust in spacecraft launches from initial launch through the first ascent. Many launch vehicles, including the Atlas V, SLS and space shuttle, have used SRBs to give launch vehicles much of the thrust required to place the vehicle into orbit. The space shuttle used two space shuttle SRBs, which were the largest solid propellant motors ever built and the first designed for recovery and reuse. The propellant for each solid rocket motor on the space shuttle weighed approximately 500,000 kilograms.. Advantages Compared to liquid propellant rockets, the solid-propellant motors SRMs have been capable of providing large amounts of thrust with a relatively simple design. They provide greater thrust without significant refrigeration and insulation requirements, and produce large amounts of thrust for their size. Adding detachable SRBs to a vehicle also powered by liquid-propelled rockets known as stagin ...
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