AEROSPATIALE OF France has begun testing its atmospheric-re-entry demonstrator (ARD) vehicle amid promises from the European Space Agency (ESA) that it intends to remain firmly committed to achieving a manned space-flight capability.
The conically shaped, 2.8t ARD is intended for its first test atop the second Ariane 5 launcher towards the end of the year. It is designed to pave the way for a European manned component of the Alpha international space station, which ESA hopes will take the form of a crew-transfer vehicle (CTV). "Europe intends to pursue its policy of guaranteed access to space," said ESA director-general Jean-Marie Luton during a presentation of the ARD at Aerospatiale.
The ARD is designed to measure phenomena related to piloted atmospheric re-entry, with the aim of achieving a landing position accuracy of 4/5km - about a quarter that of the Apollo re-entry capsule. "We want to find out if we can avoid the 300s blackout that occurs between 77km and 54km altitude," says Aerospatiale ARD project chief Gerard Breard. Another target is to reduce the ARD's deceleration to around 5G from the 8-10G experienced by the Russian Soyuz crew.
Breard reveals that the ARD uses re-entry protection technology taken from French nuclear missiles. The test vehicle, which is due to land in the Pacific near Hawaii, will be equipped with 205 sensors transmitting data in real time. Test results must be processed quickly, says Breard, to enable ESA to decide in 1997 on whether to go ahead with a CTV.
Source: Flight International
