{"id":23904,"date":"2024-12-24T21:46:55","date_gmt":"2024-12-24T13:46:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/europes-future-in-space-vega-cadence-to-increase-hyimpulses-hybrid-rocket\/"},"modified":"2024-12-24T21:46:55","modified_gmt":"2024-12-24T13:46:55","slug":"europes-future-in-space-vega-cadence-to-increase-hyimpulses-hybrid-rocket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/europes-future-in-space-vega-cadence-to-increase-hyimpulses-hybrid-rocket\/","title":{"rendered":"Europe\u2019s future in space: Vega cadence to increase, HyImpulse\u2019s hybrid rocket"},"content":{"rendered":"

European companies in the space sector have been developing novel technology to find their unique place in the market, allowing them to thrive and innovate while stepping towards developing their orbital vehicles. Some are supported by the European Space Agency (ESA), such as HyImpulse, Isar Aerospace, and Orbex, while other independent private companies, such as PLD Space, are forging their ambitious paths to reusability.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Arianespace launched three European orbital missions in 2024 from the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana. The first was the maiden launch of an Ariane 6 rocket in July, the successor to the Ariane 5 as Europe\u2019s premier heavy-lift vehicle. Ariane 6\u2019s first flight also marked the debut of the ELA-4 pad at the launch site. Two other missions placed Sentinel Earth observation satellites into Sun-synchronous orbits aboard Vega rockets, with the most recent of which being the return-to-flight of the troubled Vega C. Carrying the Sentinel-1C, which was originally intended to launch aboard a Soyuz vehicle, Vega C flew for the first time in almost two years.<\/p>\n

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Vega launch site at the French Guiana Space Center. (Credit: ESA)<\/p>\n

On Dec. 18, ESA signed multiple contracts with Avio, the manufacturer of the Vega rocket, to increase the annual number of flights of the Vega-C and to advance the development of its successor, the Vega-E. The former Ariane 5 integration building in French Guiana will be adapted for the Vega-C, enabling two mission campaigns to be prepared simultaneously, with one on the pad and the other in the upgraded assembly building. Four launches are planned for 2025, including the Biomass and Sentinel-1D missions, and another five in 2026.<\/p>\n

Avio took over Vega operations from Arianespace in late 2023 and will develop the next-generation Vega-E at the site, from the development of the rocket stages through to assembly and on-ground qualification testing. The Ariane 5 launch pad, fuelling, and support systems will be modified for the new vehicle. Vega-E stands slightly taller than Vega-C at 35 m with a 3.3 m diameter fairing. Using the P120C and Z40 motors developed for Vega C, it will have a liftoff thrust of 4,500 kN. The Zefiro 9 third stage and liquid-propelled Avum upper stages of the Vega-C will be replaced by a third, cryogenic MR10 upper stage, loaded with liquid methane and oxygen propellants just before launch. Vega-E\u2019s maiden launch is currently scheduled for 2027.<\/p>\n

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Render of the Vega-E. (Credit: ESA)<\/p>\n

ESA recently awarded contract extensions to four companies as part of its Boost! program, which was designed to stimulate and support the development of space transportation services in member states. The program funded three companies in 2019 to reward industrial entrepreneurship and encourage competition within the private sector. November\u2019s \u20ac44.2 million funding extensions went to Isar Aerospace (\u20ac15 million), HyImpulse (\u20ac11.8 million), Rocket Factory Augsburg (\u20ac11.8 million), and UK-based Orbex (\u20ac5.6 million), who also began to receive funding from the program in 2021.<\/p>\n

German launch service company Isar Aerospace could potentially debut its Spectrum rocket in early 2025. This would also be the first orbital launch from the And\u00f8ya spaceport in Norway, which has supported over 300 suborbital missions for NASA since 1966. This site launched one of ten European suborbital launches in 2024, for the \u0141ukasiewicz Institute of Aviation. Most European suborbital flights have launched from the Esrange Space Center in Sweden, including the Red Kit, VSB-30, Dart, and the Improved Orion.<\/p>\n

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Render of the Spectrum rocket on the pad at And\u00f8ya. (Credit: Isar Aerospace)<\/p>\n

German private aerospace company HyImpulse chose the Koonibba Test Range in Australia for its maiden flight. Headquartered in Neuenstadt am Kocher, it has been developing a series of products based around a hybrid rocket engine using a combination of paraffin-based fuel and liquid oxygen as propellant. The environmentally friendly technology is already being proven on the company\u2019s SR75 suborbital sounding rocket and will feed into the development of the forthcoming three-stage orbital SL1 using the same HyPLOX75 hybrid engine.<\/p>\n

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In mid-December, the company also announced an orbital transfer vehicle (OTV) called HyMove, which will use the same propellant technology. This OTV, also called a \u201cspace tug,\u201d will enable the company to deploy multiple satellites into different orbital planes from a single launch. The craft will support \u201clast mile\u201d payload delivery, precision orbital insertion, and hosted payload services. The company has partnered with leading nanosatellite mission provider Spacemanic to launch up to ten missions using HyMove from 2026 through 2036. The pair plan to capitalize on the expanding small satellite market in Europe, which is expected to grow to $30 billion by the decade\u2019s end. HyImpulse expects to wrap up ground testing of the space tug next year and begin flying commercial missions in 2029.<\/p>\n

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Render of the HyMove OTV. (Credit: HyImpulse)<\/p>\n

In May this year, the HyImpulse team launched its 12 m-long SR75 suborbital sounding rocket from the Koonibba Test Range. The rocket\u2019s name comes from the abbreviation \u201csounding rocket\u201d and the engine\u2019s 75 kN of thrust. It represented a significant change from the team\u2019s previous rockets.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe oxidizer change was the hard thing to do,\u201d Christian Schmierer, CEO of HyImpulse, told NSF. \u201cThat took roughly four years of intensive testing on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

The company was initially granted permission to launch from SaxaVord Spaceport in the Shetland Islands, with a 12-month window starting last December. While the Spaceport was yet to receive its launch license, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) granted permission to launch the SR75, considering the target altitude. Because the infrastructure was not yet in place, their first vehicle instead launched from Koonibba, reaching 50 km, and was recovered after a parachute descent. The team was on-site for three weeks, from the launch preparations and setting up the pad to the recovery of the rocket and packing away.<\/p>\n

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SR75 lifts off from Koonibba Test Range in Australia. (Credit: HyImpulse)<\/p>\n

95% of the vehicle\u2019s technical development has been done in-house, and the company developed the automated fiber-winding technology and production capability to build its engines, composite tanks for both liquid oxygen and helium, avionics, and software. Constructed from a carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer, the company\u2019s Type 5 fully composite tank is both lightweight and strong, removing the need for a metal liner.<\/p>\n

Hybrid rocket engines<\/p>\n

HyImpulse is disruptive because of its hybrid rocket engine, which uses liquid oxygen and paraffin as liquefying fuel. The suborbital debut mission was dubbed \u201cLight This Candle\u201d as a nod to astronaut Alan Shepard\u2019s famous quote. The forthcoming SL-1 orbital rocket will benefit from utilizing a flight-proven engine design using this technology.<\/p>\n

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Production of the SR75. (Credit: HyImpulse)<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are three major challenges with a hybrid rocket engine,\u201d Schmierer told NSF. \u201cThe first is the structural challenge of the large combustion chamber. There\u2019s 3,000 Kelvin inside, but you want to make it as light as possible, so you want to use composite fibers that will break at 80 degrees Celcius.\u201d<\/p>\n

If managing this wasn\u2019t enough of a challenge, the second difficulty is vaporizing the oxidizer. The student group used nitrous oxide, which is more or less already a monopropellant, so once ignited, it can keep the flame stable. \u201cLiquid oxygen is highly reactive,\u201d Schmierer notes, \u201cbut also cryogenic, so it cannot decide if it wants to make this flame burn really fast or to extinguish it if it\u2019s not refined.\u201d<\/p>\n

The third challenge is with the propellant fuel itself. \u201cThe classical hybrid rocket fuels, for example, Hydroxyl-terminated Polybutadiene (HTPB), is a chemical compound you\u2019ll also find in solid rocket motors as a binder. This burns faster than Hydrogen Peroxide (HTP) or other polymers, but it\u2019s still super slow. That has made it necessary in the past to have hybrid engines with complex geometries like a wagon wheel or a multiport, where there\u2019s a lot of holes in the fuel grain for the oxidizer to flow through. This increases the surface of the fuel and, therefore, the mass flow, which is dependent on the surface, but it has a big issue towards the end. The complex structure starts breaking apart as the fuel gets thinner, so you cannot fully burn [everything], and you have a huge amount of residual fuel.\u201d<\/p>\n

He notes that the solution is a circular port, limiting the design to one hole through which the oxidizer can be injected. The combustion then moves from inside to outside until it reaches the skin. However, with just one hole, there is no longer a large surface, so the fuel needs to burn faster to manage the regression rate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is where the liquefying technology comes in,\u201d Schmierer explains. \u201cThe paraffin fuel melts and forms a liquid layer on the surface, which forms waves and entrains droplets into the flow. This is the solution to the higher regression rate \u2013 by bringing droplets from the surface into the flame, you don\u2019t need to bring the flame to the surface. You reduce the necessary thermal heat exchange between the flame and the fuel by bringing the fuel to the flame.\u201d<\/p>\n

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SR75 ignites during its maiden launch. (Credit: HyImpulse)<\/p>\n

Paraffin is easily sourced, cheap to produce, and safely stored, but the choice is not without its challenges. In its pure form, it is very brittle and is sourced as a byproduct of the oil industry. HyImpulse has refined its recipe for the fuel with around five percent additives, fine-tuning the manufacturing process of mixing, melting, cooling down, and casting the solidified grain into blocks, which are then wrapped with composite fibers. \u201cIt\u2019s not an easy process \u2013 you can melt a few candles at home and try to pour it into a big shape and it will always break apart while solidifying because it shrinks extremely. As soon as you go to a three-meter paraffin with 60 cm diameter, then it starts to get really challenging.\u201d On the plus side, paraffin is chemically similar to kerosene and has the same specific impulse (ISP).<\/p>\n

HyImpulse views the suborbital SR75 as a progressive step towards scaling up its technology for the SL1 orbital rocket, nurturing and developing the team and the technology. \u201cOne use-case [for the SR75} is inaugural flights for multiple spaceports because they would like to have a rocket launch before they go orbital. We know that for microgravity research, there\u2019s a very limited market in Europe, and we could maybe launch two rockets a year in this market, so we never wanted to offer that service.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a lot of technology testing that is possible with this kind of rocket, such as testing material samples for supersonic and hypersonic flight, or payloads for space on a suborbital trajectory, for example, re-entry capsules. We have quite some customer interest and it could be as many as four to six launches per year.\u201d<\/p>\n

To support these future flights, an upgrade will increase the 30-second burn duration from the maiden flight and add active guidance to follow a predefined path with a fixed pitch. This is important for rockets of this size, which are wind-sensitive. The next flight will launch in Q1 of 2026 from Saxavord in the UK, which can be very windy while offering its customers more diverse mission profiles.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n