Vinci is a
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 ...
cryogenic
In physics, cryogenics is the production and behaviour of materials at very low temperatures.
The 13th IIR International Congress of Refrigeration (held in Washington DC in 1971) endorsed a universal definition of “cryogenics” and “cr ...
liquid rocket engine
A liquid-propellant rocket or liquid rocket utilizes a rocket engine that uses liquid rocket propellant, liquid propellants. Liquids are desirable because they have a reasonably high density and high Specific impulse, specific impulse (''I''sp). T ...
currently under development. It is designed to power the new
upper stage
A multistage rocket or step rocket is a launch vehicle that uses two or more rocket ''stages'', each of which contains its own engines and propellant. A ''tandem'' or ''serial'' stage is mounted on top of another stage; a ''parallel'' stage is ...
of
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. ...
.
Overview
Vinci is an
expander cycle
The expander cycle is a power cycle of a bipropellant rocket engine. In this cycle, the fuel is used to cool the engine's combustion chamber, picking up heat and changing phase. The now heated and gaseous fuel then powers the turbine that drives ...
rocket engine fed with
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 li ...
and
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 applica ...
. Its biggest improvement from its predecessor, the
HM7B
The HM7B is a European cryogenic upper stage rocket engine used on the vehicles in the Ariane rocket family. It will be replaced by Vinci, which will act as the new upper stage engine on Ariane 6. Nearly 300 engines have been produced to date. ...
(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
A gas generator is a device for generating gas. A gas generator may create gas by a chemical reaction or from a solid or liquid source, when storing a pressurized gas is undesirable or impractical.
The term often refers to a device that uses a ...
to drive the fuel and oxidizer pumps. The engine features a
carbon ceramic
In materials science, ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) are a subgroup of composite materials and a subgroup of ceramics. They consist of ceramic fibers embedded in a ceramic matrix. The fibers and the matrix both can consist of any ceramic mat ...
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 developed. On 22 December 2006, Snecma announced a new ESA contract for Vinci rocket engine long-duration and re-ignition testing.
In late April 2010 the
German Aerospace Center
The German Aerospace Center (german: Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V., abbreviated DLR, literally ''German Center for Air- and Space-flight'') is the national center for aerospace, energy and transportation research of Germany ...
DLR announced the start of a six-month test campaign for the Vinci engine at its
Lampoldshausen
Lampoldshausen is a small village on the southern edge of the Harthausen Forest near Möckmühl in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
Aerospace Village
Within the global Aerospace community Lampoldshausen is known as Aerospace Village by the Institute ...
facility. The first successful test firing of this campaign took place on 27 May 2010. A video of a test was released in 2016.
In 2014,
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
was interested with the idea of using the Vinci instead of the
RL10
The RL10 is a liquid-fuel cryogenic rocket engine built in the United States by Aerojet Rocketdyne that burns cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellants. Modern versions produce up to of thrust per engine in vacuum. Three RL10 ve ...
for an upper stage of
Space Launch System
The Space Launch System (SLS) is an American super heavy-lift expendable launch vehicle developed by NASA. As of 2022, SLS has the highest payload capacity of any rocket in operational service, as well as the greatest liftoff thrust of any r ...
. The Vinci offers the same specific impulse at the same mass but with 64% greater thrust, which would allow for a reduction of one or two of the four second stage engines for the same performance, while the cost would be lower.
As of 2022, the first flight of the Ariane 6 rocket with Vinci is planned for early 2023.
In July 2017,
Ariane Group
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 ...
reported that the first flight models of the combustion chamber had entered production.
See also
*
Spacecraft propulsion
Spacecraft propulsion is any method used to accelerate spacecraft and artificial satellites. In-space propulsion exclusively deals with propulsion systems used in the vacuum of space and should not be confused with space launch or atmospheric e ...
*
M10 (rocket engine)
M10 is a liquid-fuel upper-stage rocket engine by Avio on behalf of European Space Agency for use on Vega E. The engine, initially known as ''LM10-MIRA'', was a derivation of the existing Russian RD-0146 engine and result of a past collaborati ...
Comparable engines
*
RL10
The RL10 is a liquid-fuel cryogenic rocket engine built in the United States by Aerojet Rocketdyne that burns cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellants. Modern versions produce up to of thrust per engine in vacuum. Three RL10 ve ...
*
RL60
The RL60 was a planned liquid-fuel cryogenic rocket engine designed in the United States by Pratt & Whitney, burning cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellants. The engine runs on an expander cycle, running the turbopumps with wast ...
*
HM7B
The HM7B is a European cryogenic upper stage rocket engine used on the vehicles in the Ariane rocket family. It will be replaced by Vinci, which will act as the new upper stage engine on Ariane 6. Nearly 300 engines have been produced to date. ...
*
YF-75D
The YF-75D is a liquid-fuel rocket, liquid cryogenic rocket engine, cryogenic rocket engine burning liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen in a closed Expander cycle (rocket), expander cycle. It is China's third generation of upper stage cryogenic fue ...
*
RD-0146
The RD-0146 (РД-0146, Ракетный Двигатель-0146, Rocket Engine-0146) is a liquid-fuel cryogenic rocket engine developed by KBKhA Kosberg in Voronezh, Russia.
The RD-0146 is the first Russian rocket engine to burn liquid oxyg ...
*
LE-5B-2
*
CE-20
The CE-20 is a cryogenic rocket engine developed by the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre, a subsidiary of Indian Space Research Organisation. It has been developed to power the upper stage of the LVM 3. It is the first Indian cryogenic engine to ...
References
External links
ESA news 2005-05-20: Vinci engine hot-firing test a successESA news 2005-06-14: Testing the new Vinci engineESA news 2005-07-29: Thumbs up for 60-second firingESA news 2005-11-07: Second Vinci engine ready for testing
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Rocket engines using hydrogen propellant
Rocket engines using the expander cycle