Hot-Fire
Test Facilities

P1 Test Facility
P2 Test Facility
P3 Test Facility
P3 Extension

Test Support

P2 Test Facility, Lampoldshausen, Germany

Test facility for hot - firing bipropellant rocket engines up to 100 kN thrust

The P2 facility is used for the sea level hot-fire testing of liquid propellant rocket engines having a thrust up to 100 kN using earth storable hypergolic bipropellants. The P2 facility is an ESA asset under the responsibility of Astrium.

ESA P2 Test Facility

Resources

• Data acquisition.
• Control system
• Safety system (ESS)
• Tank systems
  - 350/350 litre at 40 bar
  - 6200/4700 litre at 40 bar
  - 250/250 litre at 120 bar

Data Acquisition

• 160 analogue channels for static pressure, temperature, flow rate etc
• 144 digital input channels
• 48 channel tape recorder for dynamic pressure, accelerometers
• 32 channel online recording for dynamic pressure, accelerometers

Control System

• 384/576 digital input/output lines
• 48/24 analogue input/output lines
• Two independent control systems for hot run and emergency functions

Typical Activities

• Thrust chamber / engine development tests for launcher propulsion
• Stage level development and qualification tests
• Propulsion module system tests for development and qualification e.g. UPS, MSG, ATV
• Maintenance of the ESA P2 installation
• Special applications for earth storable hypergolic propellants

Test Programmes

• Sea level tests, HF investigations - Aestus upper stage engine for Ariane 5
• Aestus long duration tests
• Aestus engine production - cold flow acceptance test
• Aestus turbopump variant (RS 72) development tests
• Ariane 5 upper stage (EPS) pressure control assembly tests
• EPS-PFE delta-qualification and production acceptance tests (cold flow tests)
• Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) -PQM-2, PQM-3 complete propulsion system tests
• ATV Component tests
• Sea level tests for 400 N ESA programmes, e.g. Cluster, MSG
• 10 N thruster sealing tests for the Cluster programme

Contact for Further Information