The P80FW is a retired

solid-fuel rocket A solid-propellant rocket or solid rocket is a rocket with a rocket engine that uses Rocket propellant#Solid chemical propellants, solid propellants (fuel/oxidizer). The earliest rockets were solid-fuel rockets powered by gunpowder. The incepti ...

motor developed as the first stage of the

Vega Vega is the brightest star in the northern constellation of Lyra. It has the Bayer designation α Lyrae, which is Latinised to Alpha Lyrae and abbreviated Alpha Lyr or α Lyr. This star is relatively close at only from the Sun, and ...

launch vehicle. It was developed by Europropulsion, a joint venture between

Avio Avio S.p.A. is an Italian company operating in the aerospace sector with its head office in Colleferro near Rome, Italy. Founded in 1908, it is present in Italy and abroad with different commercial offices and 10 production sites. Avio operate ...

and

ArianeGroup ArianeGroup (formerly Airbus Safran Launchers) is an aerospace company based in France. A joint venture between Airbus and Safran, the company was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Issy-les-Moulineaux near Paris. It consists of three core ...

, for the

European Space Agency The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member International organization, international organization devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023, ESA was founded in 1975 ...

(ESA). The designation "P80FW" reflected key characteristics of the motor: "P" stood for ''poudre'' (French for 'powder'), referencing its solid propellant; "80" denoted the original target of 80 tonnes of propellant (later increased to 88 tonnes); and "FW" stood for ''filament wound'', indicating the one-piece

carbon-fibre Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers (Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon compo ...

composite construction of the motor casing. Prior to its retirement, it was the world's most powerful monolithic solid rocket motor.

History

Development of the P80 began in 2005 led by the French space agency

CNES CNES () is the French national space agency. Headquartered in central Paris, the agency is overseen by the ministries of the Armed Forces, Economy and Finance and Higher Education, Research and Innovation. It operates from the Toulouse Spac ...

, in collaboration with the ESA and the

Italian Space Agency The Italian Space Agency (; ASI) is a government agency established in 1988 to fund, regulate and coordinate space exploration activities in Italy. The agency cooperates with numerous national and international entities who are active in aerospac ...

(ASI). The first static firing test was conducted at the

Guiana Space Centre The Guiana Space Centre (; CSG), also called Europe's Spaceport, is a spaceport to the northwest of Kourou in French Guiana, an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas region of France in South America. Kourou is located approxim ...

in November 2006, followed by qualification testing in December 2007. The P80 made its maiden flight on 13 February 2012 as part of Vega's qualification mission, followed by its first commercial launch on 7 May 2013. Total development costs amounted to €76 million. The P80 was retired after completing 22 successful launches, with its final flight occurring on 5 September 2024. It was succeeded by the

P120C The P120C is a solid-fuel rocket motor developed for use as the first stage of the Vega-C launch vehicle and as strap-on boosters for the Ariane 6. It was developed by Europropulsion, a joint venture between Avio and ArianeGroup, for the Europ ...

, a wider and more powerful variant with a propellant mass of , developed for use on both the

Ariane 6 Ariane 6 is a European expendable launch system developed for the European Space Agency (ESA) and manufactured by a consortium of European companies, led by the prime contractor ArianeGroup. As part of the Ariane rocket family, it is operate ...

launch vehicle and the upgraded

Vega C VegaC, or Vega Consolidation, is a European expendable, small-lift launch vehicle developed and produced by Avio. It is an evolution of the original Vega launcher, designed to offer greater launch performance and flexibility. Approved for de ...

rocket. , an extended version of the P120C, known as the

P160C The P160C is a solid-fuel rocket motor developed for use as the first stage of the Vega C+ mid-life upgrade, the next-generation Vega E, and as strap-on boosters for the Ariane 6 Block 2 launch vehicles. It was developed by Europropulsion, a jo ...

, was under development. This version is approximately longer and features a propellant mass of . It is intended for use on the Ariane 6 Block 2 and as the first stage of the future

Vega E VegaC, or Vega Consolidation, is a European expendable, small-lift launch vehicle developed and produced by Avio. It is an evolution of the original Vega launcher, designed to offer greater launch performance and flexibility. Approved for devel ...

Technical overview

The P80FW was a monolithic solid rocket motor that used an

ammonium perchlorate composite propellant Ammonium perchlorate composite propellant (APCP) is a solid rocket propellant. It differs from many traditional solid rocket propellants such as black powder or zinc-sulfur, not only in chemical composition and overall performance but also by ...

known as HTPB 1912, consisting of approximately 69%

ammonium perchlorate Ammonium perchlorate ("AP") is an inorganic compound with the formula . It is a colorless or white solid that is soluble in water. It is a powerful oxidizer. Combined with a fuel, it can be used as a rocket propellant called ammonium perchlorat ...

, 19%

aluminum powder Aluminium powder is powdered aluminium. This was originally produced by mechanical means using a stamp mill to create flakes. Subsequently, a process of spraying molten aluminium to create a powder of droplets was developed by E. J. Hall in the ...

, and 12%

hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene Hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) is an oligomer of butadiene terminated at each end with a hydroxyl functional group. It reacts with isocyanates to form polyurethane polymers. HTPB is a translucent liquid with a color similar to wax pap ...

(HTPB) as the binder. It burned for approximately 114 seconds and was jettisoned at an altitude of , at which point the launch vehicle reached a velocity of about . The motor shared dimensions with the solid rocket boosters used on the

Ariane 5 Ariane 5 is a retired European heavy-lift space launch vehicle operated by Arianespace for the European Space Agency (ESA). It was launched from the Guiana Space Centre (CSG) in French Guiana. It was used to deliver payloads into geostationar ...

, featuring a diameter and a similar height of . This compatibility allowed use of the same facilities at the

propellant loading and transportation. The P80 nozzle was derived from that of the Ariane 5 boosters. When fully fueled, the P80FW had a gross mass of including approximately of propellant. Before propellant loading, the booster weighed approximately , which includes the weight of the motor casing. It delivered a maximum thrust of and an average thrust of with a

specific impulse Specific impulse (usually abbreviated ) is a measure of how efficiently a reaction mass engine, such as a rocket engine, rocket using propellant or a jet engine using fuel, generates thrust. In general, this is a ratio of the ''Impulse (physics), ...

of . Manufacturing and integration of the P80 involved multiple European aerospace companies. Europropulsion (a 50-50 joint venture of Avio and ArianeGroup) manufactured the main motor casing, Regulus (a 60-40 joint venture of Avio and ArianeGroup) was responsible for propellant loading, Aerospace Propulsion Products of the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

built the igniter, Belgian company

SABCA SABCA () is a Belgian aerospace company. Its main sectors of activity are civil aviation, space and defence. SABCA was established during 1920. Presently, it is owned by the Belgian group Orizio, itself owned by the Société Fédérale de Par ...

supplied components for

thrust vector control Thrust vectoring, also known as thrust vector control (TVC), is the ability of an aircraft, rocket or other vehicle to manipulate the direction of the thrust from its engine(s) or motor(s) to control the attitude or angular velocity of the veh ...

and the staging skirt, ArianeGroup manufactured the nozzle and Avio handled integration of all the components and conducted final testing.

References

{{Rocket engines Rocket stages Solid-fuel rockets