The Astris was an
upper stage
A multistage rocket or step rocket is a launch vehicle that uses two or more rocket ''stages'', each of which contains its own Rocket engine, engines and Rocket propellant, propellant. A ''tandem'' or ''serial'' stage is mounted on top of anoth ...
developed by
ERNO Raumfahrttechnik GmbH and
MBB as the third stage of the
Europa 1 launch vehicle.
It was the
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
contribution to the project and only flew activated four times. The high failure rate of the three and four stage rocket meant that the project was cancelled.
On November 29, 1968, its inaugural flight, the Astris third stage exploded.
On the second attempt in July 1969, the Astris engine failed to start.
On the third attempt on June 11, 1970, the stage performed correctly, but the fairing failed to separate.
On November 5, 1971, the
Europa II launched from
CSG ELA-1
ELV () is a launch complex at the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana supporting launches of the Vega and Vega C rockets. It was first built in November 1971 and was previously used to support launches of the Europa, Ariane 1 and Ariane 3 ...
, had a mishap due to structural failure of the third stage.
After this last failure the project was definitely cancelled.
Details
The stage measured 3.36 m with a diameter of 2 m, and had an empty mass of 610 kg.
Propellant (
N2O4/
Aerozine-50) mass was 2760 kg, and the single ''
Astris In Greek mythology, Astris (Ancient Greek: Ἀστρὶς) or Asteria was, in Nonnus's ''Dionysiaca'', one of the Heliades, daughters of Helios, either by the Oceanid Clymene or the Oceanid Ceto. She married the river god Hydaspes (the modern Jh ...
'' engine produced 23.3 kN of thrust.
See also
*
Astris (rocket engine)
*
Europa (rocket)
The Europa rocket was an early expendable launch system of the European Launcher Development Organisation (ELDO), which was the precursor to the European Space Agency (ESA). It was developed with the aim to delivering space access technology, a ...
*
Viking (rocket engine)
References
Rocket stages
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