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September 14, 2019 07:44 pm

Europe's Space Industry Is Working On Reusable Rockets With Environmentally-Friendly Fuel

schwit1 shared this article from Space.com (which includes a really cool video):The European launch provider Arianespace -- best known as the manufacturer of the heavy-lift Ariane 5 and the future Ariane 6 -- has a plan to make its future rockets more competitive in a tight launch industry. As you might guess from looking at the U.S. company SpaceX's reusable Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, reusability is what Arianespace wants to do as well. Back in February, ArianeGroup and CNES (the French space agency) signed a memorandum of understanding for a new "acceleration platform" that will work to develop new launchers, including reusable ones. The platform, called ArianeWorks, unites teams under one roof and provides all the ingredients possible for innovation: "a highly flexible environment, open to new players and internationally," according to a press release from the time. The interim results are coming soon: two low-cost demonstrators [named "Themis" and "Frog"] that will examine how to recover the first stage of a rocket launching to space.... CNES and ArianeSpace are also working together to make an engine called Prometheus, which uses oxygen and methane as its propellant and can be adapted for multiple rocket platforms. Methane and oxygen produce products that are more environmentally friendly than many other rocket fuels. Themis will use the Prometheus engine for its landings, which means that the rocket demonstrator will not only be reusable, but also less harsh on the environment during launch and landing.

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