“One of the main challenges is to ensure that the composites are just as tight and robust as metal parts for the extremely cold and penetrating liquid hydrogen,” explained Pierre Godart, CEO of ArianeGroup in Germany. This collaboration, which began in May 2019 with an initial phase A/B1 design contract, continues under the ESA contract signed today. The exploration and use of composite technologies are key aspects, for which MT Aerospace and ArianeGroup are combining the expertise of their teams in Augsburg and Bremen in order to design and test the PHOEBUS upper stage cryogenic composite technology prototype. The goal is thus to improve its performance (in particular, an increased payload capacity of about two metric tons to geostationary transfer orbit), and to validate a new stage architecture.Ĭontinued improvements to the competitiveness of the Ariane 6 launcher were designed-in from the outset and are proceeding incrementally throughout its development. The PHOEBUS (Prototype of a Highly OptimizEd Black UpperStage) program will increase the maturity of the technologies needed to lower both the manufacturing cost and the weight of the Ariane 6 upper stage. The European Space Agency (ESA) and ArianeGroup, lead contractor and design authority for Ariane 6, have signed a new technological development contract in the field of carbon composites.
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