Descrizione del progetto
Una nuova era di interoperabilità ed efficienza nell’esplorazione spaziale
L’aumento dei piccoli lanciatori privati in Europa mette in evidenza una sfida cruciale: il 99,99 % della vita di un lanciatore viene trascorso a terra, con un impatto significativo sui costi. I lanci rappresentano solo una piccola parte della vita complessiva del lanciatore, e pertanto le spese di capitale e operative di questa fase sono fondamentali. Il progetto Eu-BEST, finanziato dall’UE, affronta questo problema offrendo ai lanciatori servizi standardizzati per il segmento di terra, riducendo i costi. Eu-BEST si concentra sullo sviluppo e la gestione di un banco di prova interoperabile, modulare e mobile per i motori e gli stadi dei razzi, al servizio di più lanciatori in diverse località e fasi di sviluppo, garantendo un’esperienza utente uniforme. Con una capacità fino a 500 kN e 200 test all’anno al costo di 25.000 euro l’uno, Eu-BEST si fa pioniere di un impianto di collaudo dei motori unico nel suo genere, destinato a sviluppare le tecnologie europee di trasporto spaziale e terrestre.
Obiettivo
In 2030, there will be several private small launchers in activity in Europe, with a higher launch rate than A6 and Vega C.
99.99% of the launcher life is spent on the ground, the flight period is a tiny part of his life. With launcher reusability the major factor of cost for space transportation will be the ground segment CAPEX and OPEX. Among ground activities, there will be hundreds of engines and stages tests per year, covering all the launcher life cycle phases : qualification, production, reuse.
Our consortium think there is a place for a new business model where standardized ground segment services are sold to launchers, in place of letting them invest and operate their own specific facilities, which represent a high cost.
To do so, we propose to work on two main axis: horizontality and verticality. Horizontally means that our solutions allow, for a given launcher, to have equivalent user experiences and services for all life cycle needs, thanks to mobile and modular ground means. Vertical interoperability means that our solutions allow, for a given location and life phase, to propose an equivalent experience and service for different launchers.
Several such interoperable facilities may be exploited across Europe and even worldwide. Europe is then capable to become a leader of interoperability implementation, it is of prime importance for future space exploration and exploitation where interoperability is a key.
The Eu-BEST will be used to
- test rocket engines from different manufacturers
- test rocket stages from different manufacturers
The targeted performances are:
- up to 500kN
-200 tests per year
- 25k€ per test
Such engine testing facility doesn’t exist in the world. It will significantly strengthen European space transportation capabilities and put Europe at the forefront of ground technologies for launchers.
To achieve those functional and performances targets, Eu-BEST concept relies on interoperability, modularity, and virtual commissioning.
Campo scientifico
Programma(i)
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
HORIZON-RIA - HORIZON Research and Innovation ActionsCoordinatore
68057 Mulhouse Cedex
Francia