P120 is a solid-fuel first-stage

rocket motor A rocket engine uses stored rocket propellants as the reaction mass for forming a high-speed propulsive jet of fluid, usually high-temperature gas. Rocket engines are reaction engines, producing thrust by ejecting mass rearward, in accordance ...

developed by

Avio Avio S.p.A. is an Italian company operating in the aerospace sector with its head office in Colleferro near Rome, Italy. Founded in 1908, it is present in Italy and abroad with different commercial offices and 10 production sites. Avio operates ...

and

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: aeros ...

through the joint venture Europropulsion on behalf of

European Space Agency , owners = , headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France , coordinates = , spaceport = Guiana Space Centre , seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png , seal_size = 130px , image = Views in the Main Control Room (1205 ...

for use on

Vega C Vega ( it, Vettore Europeo di Generazione Avanzata, or french: Vecteur européen de génération avancée, or en, European Vector of Advanced Generation, meaning "Advanced generation European carrier rocket") is an expendable launch system in ...

and

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 famil ...

. "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 P80 may refer to: Automobiles * BMW P80, a family of Formula One engines * Toyota Starlet (P80), a Japanese car * Volvo P80 platform, a Swedish mid-size automobile platform * WM P80, a French prototype racing car Other vehicles * P80 (rocke ...

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 Colleferro (IPA: /kɔllefɛrro/) is a small town with 20 698 inhabitants of the Metropolitan City of Rome in the Lazio region of central Italy. It is a residential zone with many different industries and sports structures. It borders the City of F ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and by

OHB OHB SE is a European multinational technology corporation. Headquartered in Bremen, Germany, the corporation consists of the two business divisions Space Systems and Aerospace + Industrial Products. A key product of the corporation is fully int ...

-owned MT Aerospace facility of

Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ' ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. 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 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 approximatel ...

Kourou Kourou () is a commune in French Guiana, an overseas region and department of France in South America. Kourou is famous for being the location of the Guiana Space Centre, the main spaceport of France and the European Space Agency (ESA). It i ...

French Guiana French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label=French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic ...

. The test lasted 140 seconds with the motor delivering a maximum thrust of , simulating the complete burn time from liftoff and through the first phase of flight. No anomalies were seen and the performance met expectations. On 28 January 2019 a second test firing of 135 seconds at the ''Guiana Space Centre'' qualificated the ''P120C'' rocket motor for flight. The second qualification model of the P120C solid rocket motor, configured for Ariane 6, completed its hot firing on 7 October 2020 at Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana.

Overview

The ''P120C'' rocket motor is derived from the first stage of the Vega rocket ''P80''. Like its predecessor, the structural casing is made of

carbon fibre Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers (Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon compo ...

, which is built from pre-impregnated

epoxy Epoxy is the family of basic components or cured end products of epoxy resins. Epoxy resins, also known as polyepoxides, are a class of reactive prepolymers and polymers which contain epoxide groups. The epoxide functional group is also coll ...

sheets through

filament winding Filament winding is a fabrication technique mainly used for manufacturing open (cylinders) or closed end structures (pressure vessels or tanks). This process involves winding filaments under tension over a rotating mandrel. The mandrel rotates arou ...

and automatic fabric deposition. It will contain 143.6 tons of HTPB 1912 solid propellant composed by 19% of

aluminium powder Aluminium powder is powdered aluminium. This was originally produced by mechanical means using a stamp mill to create flakes. Subsequently, a process of spraying molten aluminium to create a powder of droplets was developed by E. J. Hall in the ...

, 69% of

ammonium perchlorate Ammonium perchlorate ("AP") is an inorganic compound with the formula NH4 ClO4. It is a colorless or white solid that is soluble in water. It is a powerful oxidizer. Combined with a fuel, it can be used as a rocket propellant called ammonium pe ...

with 12% of hydroxyl terminated polybutadiene binder. It takes of carbon fibre, wound over 33 days in a climate controlled room held at 21 °C to make the motor's thick walls. The finished launcher will carry 143 tonnes of solid fuel and produce an average of 4.5 MN of thrust.

P120C+

In 2022, development of a stretched P120C+ version was announced to supersede the original on both the Ariane 6 and Vega-C, this extends the length of the solid booster by one meter adding 14 tons of extra propellant''ESA-developed P120C solid rocket motor enters production'' April 2022
/ref> and increases LEO lift performance of the Ariane 64 by approximately 2 tons.''Amazon launch contracts drive changes to launch vehicle production'' April 2022
/ref> 16 of the 18 contracted Kuiper launches are planned to utilize the P120C+ booster.

References

{{Rocket engines Rocket stages Solid-fuel rockets

History

Overview

P120C+

See also

References