The Prometheus

rocket engine A rocket engine is a reaction engine, producing thrust in accordance with Newton's third law by ejecting reaction mass rearward, usually a high-speed Jet (fluid), jet of high-temperature gas produced by the combustion of rocket propellants stor ...

is an ongoing

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) development effort begun in 2017 to create a reusable

methane Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The abundance of methane on Earth makes ...

-fueled

for use on the

Themis In Greek mythology and religion, Themis (; ) is the goddess and personification of justice, divine order, law, and custom. She is one of the twelve Titan children of Gaia and Uranus, and the second wife of Zeus. She is associated with oracles a ...

reusable rocket demonstrator and

Ariane Next Ariane Next—partially reusable launcher is planned to succeed Ariane 6, with an entry into service in the 2030s. The objective of the new launcher is to halve the launch costs compared with Ariane 6. Funded by the EU under the Horizon Europe ...

, the successor to

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 ...

, and possibly a version of Ariane 6 itself. Prometheus is a

backronym A backronym is an acronym formed from an already existing word by expanding its letters into the words of a phrase. Backronyms may be invented with either serious or humorous intent, or they may be a type of false etymology or folk etymology. The ...

from the original French project designation PROMETHEE, standing for "Precursor Reusable Oxygen Methane cost Effective propulsion System", and for the Titan

Prometheus In Greek mythology, Prometheus (; , , possibly meaning "forethought")Smith"Prometheus". is a Titans, Titan. He is best known for defying the Olympian gods by taking theft of fire, fire from them and giving it to humanity in the form of technol ...

, from Greek mythology, creator of humanity, and god of fire, known for giving fire to humanity in defiance of the gods. By 2020, the program was funded and is under development by

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 ...

. The engine is aimed to be reusable with substantially lower costs than traditional engines manufactured in Europe. The cost goal is to manufacture the Prometheus engine at one-tenth the cost of 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 ...

's first-stage engine.

General characteristics

The engine is planned to have the following features: * Methane–oxygen propellant. * Extensive use of metal

3D printing 3D printing, or additive manufacturing, is the construction of a three-dimensional object from a CAD model or a digital 3D model. It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is deposited, joined or solidified under computer ...

(up to 50% of the engine). * Open

gas-generator cycle The gas-generator cycle, also referred to as the GG cycle or colloquially as an open cycle, is one of the most commonly used power cycles in bipropellant liquid rocket engines. Propellant is burned in a gas generator (analogous to, but distinct ...

. * 980 kN of thrust (~100 tonnes), variable from 30% to 110% thrust. * chamber pressure. * 360 s specific impulse (''I''). * Reusable 5 times. * Around 1 million euros production cost.

History

The

(ESA) began funding Prometheus engine development in June 2017 with provided through the

Future Launchers Preparatory Programme The Future Launchers Preparatory Programme (FLPP) is a technology development and maturation programme of the European Space Agency (ESA). It develops technologies for the application in future European launch vehicles and in upgrades to exist ...

, 63% of which came from

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. By June 2017, Patrick Bonguet, lead of the

launch vehicle program at

Arianespace Arianespace SA is a French company founded in March 1980 as the world's first commercial launch service provider. It operates two launch vehicles: Vega C, a Small-lift launch vehicle, small-lift rocket, and Ariane 6, a Medium-lift launch vehicl ...

, indicated that it was possible the Prometheus engine could find a use on a future version of the

expendable ''Expendable'' is a science fiction novel by the Canadian author James Alan Gardner, published in 1997 by HarperCollins Publishers under its various imprints.Avon Books; HarperCollins Canada; SFBC/AvoNova. Paperback edition 1997, Eos Books. It i ...

Ariane 6 launcher. In this scenario, a "streamlined version of

Vulcain Vulcain is French for Vulcan. Vulcain may refer to: * Vulcain (watch company), a Swiss watch manufacturer established in 1858 and inventor of the alarm complication for wristwatches * Vulcain (rocket engine), a family of European first-stage engin ...

rocket engine called Vulcain 2.1 would have the same performance as Vulcain 2". The expendable Ariane 6 was then expected to make an

initial In a written or published work, an initial is a letter at the beginning of a word, a chapter (books), chapter, or a paragraph that is larger than the rest of the text. The word is ultimately derived from the Latin ''initiālis'', which means '' ...

launch in 2020. By June 2020, the ESA was on board with this plan and had agreed to completely fund the development of the Prometheus precursor engine to bring the "engine design to a technical maturity suitable for industry". The objective of the overall program as stated in June 2020 was to utilize Prometheus technology to eventually "lower the cost of production by a factor of ten of the current main stage

Vulcain 2 engine". In 2021, ESA invested an additional €135 million in the project, including €30 million from DLR. A Prometheus engine was started up in Nov 2022. The engine had a successful 12 second test firing in June 2023, at the THEMIS test stand in Vernon, France. An additional successful hot fire test was reported at the end of 2024.

References

External links

ESA Prometheus website
Rocket engines using methane propellant Space programs European space programmes Spaceflight technology {{Rocketry-stub

General characteristics

History

See also

References

External links