Europeas future in space

[sammie nl]

I though that an article from the BBC might be a nice start for a discussion about the launch industry in Europe. The article can be found here
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Rescue mission for Europe's rockets
Russian Soyuz rockets could soon be launching from the European spaceport at Kourou in French Guiana. The proposal is part of a package of measures designed to restructure the European launch business and rescue it from its current parlous financial state. On Tuesday, ministers from the European Space Agency's (Esa) member states must consider the plans and decide whether they are worth the requested extra investment from taxpayers and industry of about one billion euros ($1.18bn).

"Soyuz would give us the full range of vehicles to get into orbit," Esa director-general Antonio Rodota told BBC News Online. "Smaller payloads will eventually travel on the Vega rocket; the larger satellites will be lifted by the Ariane 5. "The low-cost Soyuz can lift medium payloads into low-Earth orbit and geostationary obit. It would also give Europe a manned spaceflight option."

Test flights
But it is imperative that space ministers first put in place measures to strengthen the market position of Europe's main launch vehicle, the Ariane 5. A beefed up version of the rocket, the 10-tonne Ariane 5, exploded four minutes into its maiden flight in December, dumping two satellites worth 600 million euros ($709m) in the Atlantic. The cooling system on the rocket's new Vulcain 2 engine failed and it must be redesigned and flown on two qualification flights before payload opportunities can again be offered to customers. This recovery programme alone will cost Europe a quarter of a billion euros ($295m). It is envisaged the first qualification flight would be in March 2004; it would carry a dummy payload.

The second flight, in the September, would undertake an altogether more onerous task - that of launching the first Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV). This new "cargo truck" is intended to ferry supplies to astronauts living on the International Space Station. There is a shake-up also for the way the whole launch operation is managed.

Safeguard future
Arianespace, the company charged under a convention with Esa to operate Europe's rockets, is being asked to concentrate its efforts more on the marketing side of the business. In future, development and manufacture will be the sole responsibility of aerospace giant EADS. Arianespace would essentially just purchase rockets - Ariane 5s, Vegas, and Soyuz vehicles from Russian company Starsem - and launch them for customers. All the changes, together with substantial new funds for Arianespace after a recapitalisation of the company, are intended to carry the European launch industry through its current slump.

Worldwide, there are too many rockets chasing a small pool of satellite contracts. The current state of affairs has seen the two major players in the US, Boeing and Lockheed Martin, discuss a joint venture. Commenting on the upcoming ministerial meeting, Philippe Camus, president of the Association of French Aeronautic and Space Industries (GIFAS), said: "The space industry expects that France and all the other European states are going to take measures and decisions that safeguard the public and private investments that have been made over the past 40 years." Mr Camus told La Tribune that industry was prepared to do its bit to safeguard the future of Europe's independent launch capability but that the member states of Esa had to share the burden.

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What do you think, should Esa start a cooperation with Russia and use there Soyuz boosters, or would that be the beginning of the end for EU space programme? I am also wondering, could the ATV be launched from a Soyuz launcher, or only from the Ariane 5?

[rob schwarz]

The ESA should get out of the small satellite launch business because that will be taken over by really cheap spaceplanes like the Pioneer (if they can create a cheap spaceplane themselves that would be different). That leaves the larger satellites and bringing humans and cargo into LEO which will still have a decent requirement for the next couple of decades.

I would love to see the EU grab upon some Apollo type project to bring the different nations together and promote space. Doesn't have to be a mission to another planet, could be as simple as an unmanned station in GSO that can house the replacements for the numerous GSO satellites currently in orbit their. A larger station/satellite mothership could be designed to keep the cost of the individual satellites down (they won't need navigation gear or power of their own once they are placed in position on the station and repairs would be easier) and it could be the infrastructure required to bootstrap European satellite launch industries. A large station that far up also provides enough engineering challenges that it could spur space industry and require some larger launchers but would have a practical purpose that even space-hater types could appreciate. Europe and Russia could do this without US help or meddling.

Of course that's just my opinion, I could be wrong.

[smichy]

I agree. There are plenty of opportunities - the moon, asteroids to name but two. But satellites into orbit is only going to diminish as a market- the payloads will get smaller!

What's so difficult about life support systems? It's not like it's new technology! Let's launch a european on a european launch vehicle - that would take the wind out of chinese sails!(good luck to them though)


Steve M

[Astronuc]

The European Space Agency designed its Automated Transfer Vehicle to handle the logistics of the International Space Station. Once it starts flying, it will deliver food, water and fuel to the astronauts.

Named after French author Jules Verne, the originator of modern science fiction, Europe's first "Automated Transfer Vehicle," is scheduled to launch aboard an Ariane 5 rocket in September 2005. The introduction of the spacecraft, which will ferry supplies including food, parts, fuel, water and even mail to the International Space Station will help take the burden off the Space Shuttle fleet, which currently transports the bulk of payloads and astronauts.

"We're particularly excited about the ATV, because it will help close the gaps if the space shuttle is not flying," said Sigmar Wittig, chairman of the executive board of the German Aerospace Center, which is funding about 41 percent of Europe's contribution to the ISS. "We recently had to reduce the number of astronauts on the ISS to two because the shuttle was grounded and there was no way to provide three with enough supplies. Separating the transport of humans and goods is the way to go in the future. "

After the launch of the Jules Verne, one ATV will be launched by ESA about every year, carrying 7.5 tons of cargo from the Kourou launch site in French Guyana. The cylindrical vessel weighs 20 tons and measures 10.3 meters long (33.79 feet) and 4.5 meters in diameter. After a journey of up to five days, it will dock with the space station's Russian service module using a precision laser tracking system that looks like a scene straight out of "Star Wars."

The ATV holds tanks that can carry 840 kilograms of water, 860 kilograms of refuelling propellant for the ISS' propulsion system and 100 kilograms of oxygen. The spacecraft also has thrusters that will be used to boost the space station's altitude every 10 to 45 days. Residual atmosphere causes the station to sink from its normal altitude of 400 kilometers, and up until now the US space shuttles have been used to propel the ISS back to its correct position.

Galactic parcel post and trash can in one

Once docked with the Russian service module on the ISS, astronauts can access the ATV during a six-month period. After all the supplies have been unloaded, the ATV is then filled with up to 6.5 tons of station waste, which will be destroyed as the cargo vessel burns up and disintegrates in Earth's atmosphere.

Though Jules Verne's voyage to space will only be one-way, his successors will become a routine part of life on the space station. "The ATV can play a major role from the moment onwards when the shuttle is phased out," said Jörg Feustel-Büechl, referring to US plans to junk the shuttle program in the near future. "The ATV is by far the biggest resupply vehicle. Presently we are relying very much on the Russian 'Progress' vehicle, which can transport two to three tons to the station."

Like the Columbus Research Module, EADS Space Transportation is also the prime contractor for ATV, but most of the development work has been undertaken at the company's French headquarters in Les Mureaux near Paris.

Daryl Lindsey (for Deutsche Welle)

[Rxke]

One initially minor downside to the ATV specs, which has become quite major due to the troubles with the STS, is it's small airlock size...

ATV's can't deliver the standard ISS science-racks. Or rather: they could, there's plenty of space in them, but the racks won't be able to go through the small (Soyuz-size) locks if they'd want them installed on ISS.
Of course, it was not built with that capability in mind, that was supposed to be the job for STS, but now, with the plans to retire STS it's become a headache for the future of ISS.

(Images of cursing astronauts hack-sawing racks to size to get them thorugh the locks spring to mind...    )

[Astronuc]

Perhaps EADS will need to develop second version of the ATV with a larger doorway.  It should be a simple prospect to engineer a different part (with the larger doorway) and fit it to the existing parts.

I was also thinking, it seems a waste to drop it back into earths atmosphere.  EADS should devise a system to park the ATV's in orbit.  In theory, they could provide raw material to use in other space projects, but then someone would have to devise a recycling/reuse program in space.

[alokmohan]

International cooperation is must for success.

[Astronuc]

Undeterred by Mars setback, Europe sets eye on rover for 2011 mission

LONDON (AFP) - Unfazed by the loss of its Martian lander in December 2003, the European Space Agency (ESA) set its sights on sending a rover to the Red Planet in 2011 to join the search for traces of life.

A small mobile unmanned lab will be launched in June 2011, arriving on the surface of Mars in June 2013, if scientists' recommendations are approved by ESA's ministers at a meeting in December, a press conference here was told.

"The rover would be equipped with a suite of scientific instruments designed to search for traces of past and present life on Mars," ESA added in a statement.

[robousy]

The Europeans are excrement and don't have a future in space.

I am from the UK and I know that all Euros are lazy fu*** who are more interested in internecine bickering than true honourable motives.

They just want to make a few bucks launching sats into LEO and maybe more, but they won't do excrement when it comes to colonizing the moon and mars. They will sit on their arses and argue for a decade or two whilst the Chinks, Yanks and Russkies take control and eventually the Germans will say Fu** it we'll do it ourselves without you women.

Ok ok, I know this sounds a little ignorant but I've worked as a research physicist for the MOD in the UK and I know how crap they are at actually DOING  things.

I'm in the States now and I UNDERSTAND why they got to the moon. Things HAPPEN over here. The Russians have balls bigger than coconuts and they'll make claims about going to Mars and probably will. The Chinese have huge asprations to prove themselves as a power to be recognized and I have no doubt that they will be big arse players this century in space.

[Astronuc]

Things HAPPEN over here.

I am from over HERE.  And things have not been happening.  In fact, JIMO has been postponed to 2017.

The US space program is in terrible shape.   

Most likely, you will find the same bureaucratic inertia in NASA and DOE as in UK MOD.

[robousy]

HST
ISS
The only reusable space shuttle in the world (bar buran which is not being used)
Numerous Mars Missions
HST2
etc...

More over here. Slow yes. but more.

[Orstio]

HST - is a collaborative effort between AURA, ESA, and NASA

ISS - is largely built from Russian technology, and has been kept aloft for the last two years by the efforts of Russia and ESA.

The only reusable space shuttle in the world (bar buran which is not being used) - has a ~15% fatality/mission rate.  It is the most unsafe vehicle in the history of manned spaceflight.  It is also the most expensive in the way of $/launch, completely defeating the purpose of a reusable vehicle.

Numerous Mars Missions - granted, NASA has certainly done more in the way of Mars missions than any other space rogramme.

HST2 - ?  Are we referring to Spitzer, or to something that is still on somebody's drawing board?

And on the other hand:

ATVs - ESA's automated transfer vehicles, when connected to the ISS, acting as a part of the station.  NASA has yet to perfect automated orbital flight maneuvers (see the DART topic).

Huygens - European-built probe was the first to land on, and send back data from a terrestrial surface in the outer solar system.

Smart-1 - ion-driven tiny robot to the Moon.

Soyuz - tried, tested, and true manned space vehicles.  Disposable and affordable.

Rosetta, Mars Express, Aurora, Ulysses, Cluster, INTEGRAL, SOHO, XMM-Newton, ISO, Double Star.

It looks to me as if there is just as much, if not more, going on in space from Europe as there is from the US.  The major difference being that anything done by NASA has a higher degree of sensationalism.

[robousy]

I conceed.

personal insult removed -- Orstio

[Astronuc]

Send-off for Europe's space lab

The European element of the International Space Station is set to be shipped to Cape Canaveral, Florida, where it will be launched into orbit.
Officials and politicians gathered in Bremen, Germany, where the Columbus Laboratory is being readied, to give the module its official send-off.

Columbus is due to be carried to the space station on an upcoming US space shuttle mission.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4965532.stm

ESA - Columbus Laboratory - http://www.esa.int/esaHS/ESAAYI0VMOC_iss_0.html

[Astronuc]

Huge space truck races into orbit
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7285796.stm

Europe's new orbital cargo ship has launched from French Guiana on a mission to resupply the space station.

The Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) is the biggest and most complex spacecraft Europe has ever tried to put in orbit.

The 20-tonne unmanned freighter left the Kourou spaceport at 0403 GMT, riding atop an Ariane 5 rocket.

The spectacular night launch in the South American jungle was declared a success once the ATV had separated from its booster 66 minutes after lift-off.

The news was cheered by a huge crowd of VIPs, space agency officials and representatives of the industrial teams that have worked on the development of the ship for past 11 years.

I was listening to a radio news article which mentioned that the ATV (named Jules Verne) carries three times the cargo as Progress.

EUROPEAN SPACECRAFT
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88025662

All Things Considered, March 9, 2008 ? The European Space Agency on Saturday launched a massive new cargo ship on a trip to the International Space Station. The robotic ship can carry more than seven tons of fuel, food and other supplies up to the station.