Development
Milestones:

1960 - 1969
1970 - 1979
1980 - 1989
1990 - 1999
2000 - 2009
2010 - 2019

Astrium GmbH - Space Propulsion Heritage.

Space propulsion development milestones for satellites and launch vehicles from 1960 to 2019.

Over the past 45 years, the Ottobrunn and Lampoldshausen sites of Astrium GmbH have gathered an impressive portfolio of heritage and world achievement in the field of satellite propulsion and launch vehicle propulsion.

LOX / Kerosene engine (1963)

Over four decades of experience.
It was as early as 1958 that in Ottobrunn, Ludwig Bölkow started the development of a rocket engine with a staged combustion cycle, the first of its kind in the history of rocketry. In 1963, this unit became the first operational high-pressure propulsion system in the world when it was fired on our test bed. Moreover, it was the first green propellant rocket engine to be developed in Europe, using a propellant combination of liquid oxygen and kerosene. This green propellant rocket engine generated a thrust of 50 kN at a pressure of 85 bar.

The green propellant rocket engine development activities that started in Ottobrunn in 1963, continue today. These activities are based on a wealth of experience, advanced analytical tools, highly efficient rocket engine technologies, the very latest manufacturing techniques and state of the art test facilities.

The Ottobrunn and Lampoldshausen teams have forged the way ahead in European space propulsion development with such achievements as:

The first staged combustion cycle rocket engine in 1963.
The first green propellant rocket engine in 1963.
The first hydrogen rocket engine in 1966.
The first fluorine rocket engine in 1970.
The first pulsed hydrogen rocket engine in 1972.
The first hypersonic ram jet engine in 1992.

First European pulsed hydrogen engine (1972)

In 1968, a rocket engine was developed in Ottobrunn having a thrust of 180 kN using liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. This rocket engine set a world record with its combustion chamber pressure of 282 bar - that still stands today.

By 1971, the Ottobrunn site developed a range of rocket engines using the high energy propellant combination of hydrogen and oxygen - in both the liquid and gaseous states. These rocket engines and thrusters operated in a thrust range from 200 N to 9,000 N with combustion chamber pressures from 5 to 21 bar.

In 1973, the Ottobrunn team started development of the thrust chamber for Ariane's HM-7 upper stage rocket engine. This cryogenic engine has reliably powered the third stages of Ariane's 1 through 4 from 1979 to 2003. Using LOX/LH2 propellants, the HM-7 rocket engine features Ottobrunn's unique regenerative cooling technology whereby hydrogen propellant is used to cool the combustion chamber before being injected for combustion.

Ottobrunn's regenerative cooling technology enables combustion temperatures greater than material temperature limits, thereby enabling the maximum possible performance to be extracted from the propellants.

Shuttle patch

Important principles of this technology was adopted by NASA under licence and it is this technology that forms the basis of today's US space shuttle main engines - the first reusable rocket engine in the world.

Today, Ottobrunn uses regenerative cooling as a standard practice for earth storable propellant, green propellant and cryogenic propellant rocket engines. Since the early 1970's, Ottobrunn's regenerative cooling technology has significantly advanced with investment into the very latest manufacturing and production facilities combined with over 30 years of experience.

In 1974, The Lampoldshausen team built the bipropellant engines for Europe's first telecommunications satellite - Symphonie. This comprised a 400 N engine for apogee manoeuvres and seven 10 N thrusters for orbital and attitude control. This was hailed as a pioneering achievement by satellite manufacturers throughout the world.

In 1988, the first combustion chamber for a hydrogen ramjet engine was tested under under mach 4 conditions. Today, this work continues with a combination turbo-ramjet engine for air breathing hypersonic aircraft.

The Ariane family
The introduction of the Ariane launcher programme gave additional impetus to the Ottobrunn activities. The Ottobrunn site developed the thrust chambers which have contributed to the reliability and success of the Ariane launch vehicle since the maiden flight of Ariane 1 on Christmas eve in 1979. Since then, rocket engine thrust chambers, designed, developed and manufactured in Ottobrunn, have continued to provide thrust for Ariane 2, Ariane 3, Ariane 4 and Ariane 5.

The largest thrust chamber currently produced at Ottobrunn is for the Ariane 5 Vulcain-2 main engine, which produces a thrust of 138 tonnes. We also produce the smallest engine used on Ariane 5 - the 400 N thruster for vehicle roll control and upper stage fine manoeuvres preparatory to satellite separation..

The placement of Ariane's satellite payloads into their destined orbits in LEO and GEO is also achieved by thrust chambers developed and manufactured in Ottobrunn, such as the Aestus bipropellant upper stage engine used on the current version of Ariane 5.

Today, the Ottobrunn team is developing the thrust chamber for the Vinci expander cycle engine. This engine will be used on the future cryogenic upper stage of Ariane 5.

NASA's Galileo space probe

Satellite Propulsion Systems
Unified Propulsion System (UPS), are produced at the Lampoldshausen facility and comprise a propellant tank feeding apogee engine and a set of miniature attitude control thrusters. One of our UPS systems set an historic milestone over 20 years ago when it was first used on NASA's Galileo Jupiter probe. The Galileo mission also set a world record for the longest operational life of a UPS system. Meanwhile, UPS systems developed at the Lampoldshausen site, have become standard practice for spacecraft manufacturers around the world.

Satellite Propulsion Equipment

Since 1969, Lampoldshausen have supplied monopropellant and bipropellant thrusters, propellant tanks, valves and complete satellite propulsion systems in support of over 250 international satellites, as well as spacecraft, interplanetary probes, launch vehicle roll control systems and upper stage AOCS systems.

Lampoldshausen Test Centre
The Lampoldshausen test centre was the inspiration of Professor Saenger in 1960. At that time, he was seeking a site close to his research facility in nearby Stuttgart. The test area later expanded with the introduction of the P3 and P4 test stands for ELDO. Today, much of its 45 hectares is utilised for the Ariane programme.

Within the field of satellite propulsion systems, the responsibilities of Astrium's Lampoldshausen facility extends from design, engineering, development, analysis and integration, through to manufacturing and actual hot-fire testing, post-test analysis and evaluation. All of these activities are performed at the Lampoldshausen test site, which is within the German Aerospace Centre (DLR).

The Lampoldshausen site also provides hot-fire test facilities for the cryogenic and bipropellant rocket engines and thrust chambers developed and manufactured at the Ottobrunn site.

The Vulcain 2 thrust chamber, produced at Ottobrunn, generates a thrust of 138 tonnes. Its P5 test stand can accommodate 35 tests a year. The test stand's hydrogen tank accommodates 600 cubic meters (over 150,000 US gallons) and can keep the Vulcain 2 engine firing for 13 minutes.

Contact for Further Information