Experimental atmospheric re-entry craft could become future crew or cargo vehicle
A slender-body craft derived from Russia's Kliper, a bi-conic capsule and an X-38-like vehicle are being studied for the European Space Agency's Atmospheric Re-entry Experimental Vehicle (AREV) project.
One of the designs could be developed into a scale model that would be launched atop the new European Vega launcher from the Kourou spaceport. Eventually, the successful design could become a future crew or cargo vehicle.
The three designs have also been analysed for launching aboard a Rockot launcher. The Kliper-derived slender body has a mass of 704kg (1,630lb), while the X-38-like vehicle, known as the Subscale Precursor Hypersonic X-vehicle (Sphynx) 1.2, is 687kg and the bi-conic capsule is 511kg.
Each has nose ballast, a parachute and various instrumentation including S-band antennas. The AREV study will provide ESA with detailed technical feasibility data and cost figures on each.
"The customer will choose which when we submit the report to them [in the third quarter of 2005]," says Federico Massobrio, a project manager with the study's lead company, Alenia Spazio. He was speaking at the French Association for Aeronautics and Astronautics' Fourth Atmospheric Re-entry Vehicles and Systems symposium in Arcachon, France, last week.
The chosen vehicle would be launched to 150km and would orbit once or twice before re-entering. With a Kourou launch, the landing site would be Australia's Woomera test range, whereas a Russian Rockot launch would have a Kiruna, Sweden, landing. The latter presents problems because of the altitude at which the returning vehicle flies over northern Europe.
The AREV study began in July 2004, and considered the results of ESA's Human Space Transportation System study, which aimed to identify future vehicles for crew and cargo launches.
ROB COPPINGER/ARCACHON
Source: Flight International
