NEXT GENERATION LAUNCHER STUDIES: PREPARING THE LONG TERM ACCESS TO SPACE

The concepts of launchers studied, proposed and designed during the last decades in Europe have not succeeded in bringing down the main hurdle to space activities: in-orbit injection cost. In the past few years, ASTRIUM Space Transportation has been leading a series of studies, initiated by CNES, on the possible launcher concepts that could replace Ariane 5 in the timeframe of 2020. These studies, including Reusable (RLV) and Expendable (ELV) launchers, have involved other companies and organizations: Snecma, Dassault Aviation, ONERA, Cryospace and Tsniimash. In the frame of ELV2020 exploratory studies it has been deemed necessary to stop the incremental improvement logic on existing launchers by minimizing its structural coefficient. Such an approach leads to the use of very advanced technologies and processes, and hence to high recurring costs. Building a launcher based on reliable and proven technologies, even with a reduced performance, will contribute to lowering the cost of the in-orbit kilogram. This paper presents the various reusable and expendable launcher concepts studied during the past years.