Future Prometheus reusable rocket engine ignites for the first time


Eric Bottlaender

Space specialist

November 21, 2022 at 12:50 p.m.

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Prometheus rocket engine ArianeGroup CNES trial © ArianeGroup

Firing Prometheus at the Vernon Test Site on Themis Bank. Credits: ArianeGroup

Developed for the needs of next-generation European launchers, the Prometheus rocket engine roared in France, at the Vernon site. The results will be crucial for the development of the Themis demonstrator, in particular. But there is still a long road to the flights.

It should also be mentioned that the engine is not yet in final version.

And fire!

The stage was eagerly awaited and the timing, just before the very important ESA ministerial meeting which will decide on the budgets for the next three years, is no coincidence. The combined teams of CNES and ArianeGroup successfully fired a Prometheus engine for the first time at the historic test site in Vernon, Eure. Prometheus has 100 tons of thrust, is reusable, and runs on liquid oxygen and methane.

This engine is the “M1” example, and it can only be ignited for the moment for very short periods, between 5 and 40 seconds, limited by the infrastructure and the existing tanks on the ground prototype of the demonstrator. Themis. But these tests are very important, they “de-risk” the future campaigns which will take place in Germany on a dedicated test stand in Lampoldshausen, with two complete engines and in flight configuration.

Themis in sight

Another advantage of these initial tests is that they validate the preliminary design of the engine section for the future reusable Themis demonstrator. The objective of the latter is to show, on a stage architecture almost identical to that of an orbital launcher, the technical feasibility of the European concept of reuse.

It will first be tested with short-duration and short-distance flights in Kiruna, Sweden, before flying at an altitude of several tens of kilometers taking off from the Guiana Space Center. Tests which however are not expected before 2024-2025.

Prometheus at the center of the debates?

The communication around this test is not disinterested. The European launcher sector is in crisis with the delays of Ariane 6, the situation generated by the withdrawal of Soyuz from the Guiana Center and the challenges weighing on the demonstrators of the “future”, of which Prometheus and Thémis are essential bricks… but very behind their initial schedules.

The discussions around the envelopes to be devoted to this development will be tough depending on the ambitions of the Member States for the next three years. Nevertheless, this successful test is a long-awaited progress and constitutes an important step forward. Prometheus implements several technologies still little used by traditional European space such as additive manufacturing, with the aim of being “low cost” compared to the Vulcain rocket engines used on Ariane 5 and 6.

Source : ESA



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