Vucain 2 engine goes into production (ESA)

[flynn]

<i>From ESA Portal</i><br /><br /><font size="5"><b>Vulcain 2 engine now in full production</b></font><br /><br /><br />A small ceremony took place yesterday at the site of Snecma Moteurs in Vernon, France, to mark the beginning of industrial production of the Vulcain 2 engine, designed for the new Ariane 5 ECA and Ariane 5 ES ATV launchers.<br /> <br />Present at the ceremony was Patrick Devedjian, the French Minister for Industry and Jean-Paul Béchat, Chairman of the Executive Board of Sagem-Snecma. ESA was represented by Antonio Fabrizi, Director of Launchers and Robert Lainé, Head of the Ariane Department. <br />“As the 12 February Ariane 5 ECA qualification flight was a complete success; we can now go into full production of the Vulcain 2 engine,” said Jean-Paul Béchat. <br /><br />The Vulcain 2 is used for the main stage of the Ariane 5 ECA that can place payloads of up to 10 tonnes into geostationary orbit, and by the Ariane 5 ES ATV, designed to deliver ESA’s Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) to the International Space Station (ISS). Ariane 5 ES ATV’s maiden flight is planned for 2006. It will place the ATV into a 300 km circular low Earth orbit, inclined to 51.6 degrees, from where the ATV will use its own propulsion system to reach and dock with the ISS. <br /><br /><br />Vulcain 2 is a modification of the Vulcain cryogenic engine used by the Ariane 5 Generic launcher and has an increased thrust of 20%. The engine operates under slightly higher pressure than that used for the Ariane 5 G and with a mixture ratio of 20% more liquid oxygen. Its new oxygen turbopump operates at 13 000 rpm to deliver a pressure of 161 bar. <br /><br />This redesigned engine also has a new nozzle and nozzle extension to allow exhaust from the turbopumps to be re-injected into the main system, thus improving engine performance at high altitudes. All these modifications mean that the Vulcain 2 engine can provide an additional lift capability of 1.3 tonnes into geostationary orbit. <br /><br />During <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#800080">"All God does is watch us and kill us when we get boring. We must never, ever be boring" - <strong>Chuck Palahniuk</strong>.</font> </div>