Future reusable launch vehicles in Europe: the FLTP (Future Launchers Technologies Programme)

The success of the third and last Ariane 5 qualification Eight is a major m ilestone in the future of space transportation in Europe; the new launcher and its evolutions will now play the leading role in the next decades. Further improvements may require drastic changes in concept; it is felt tha t no major gain in specific cost can be expected without baselining a parti al or total reusability : the generation of launchers following Ariane 5, i n the time frame of year 2015 or so, will have to be somehow reusable. Several new technologies are required to that extent, mainly linked to aero thermodynamics, advanced structures and materials, reusable propulsion syst ems, health monitoring systems, etc. For this purpose ESA has proposed the Future Launchers Technologies Program me (FLTP), whose objectives are : to confirm the interest of launcher reusability; to identify, develop and validate the technologies required to make possibl e the development of a new generation of cost effective launchers; to elaborate a plan for the on ground and in flight experimentation and dem onstrations required to achieve a sufficient level of confidence prior to t he vehicle development phase and to progressively implement such demonstrat ions; to provide, through the analysis of candidate vehicle concepts and the synt hesis of the technologies activities, elements in support of a possible pro grammatic decision about the initiation of a European development programme for the next generation of launchers, which is presently expected to be re quired around 2007. The FLTP aims at answering the above issues by three axes of activities: system concept studies, technology developments, demonstration requirements, on ground and in flight. Two programme phases, the first one of three years, will enable a clear vie w of the future launcher system architecture, its feasibility and its overa ll interest, prior to the decision of any major new launcher development in Europe. (C) 2000 Bonnal-CNES & Caporicci-ESA. Published by Elsevier Scienc e Ltd.