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GERMANY PLANS NEW SPACE GLIDER

In the wake of the ASTRA research programme into selected systems and technologies for future space transport system applications, the German Centre for Aeronautics and Astronautics (DLR) is currently collaborating with industry and international partners to develop ground-breaking concepts for low-cost access to space. Concepts that are relatively inexpensive to implement are being examined and new technologies and techniques for the design, construction and operation of space transport systems that are cheap to operate are being developed.

Work is taking place on similar programmes in other European countries as well. In this field one learns the hard way: for example, originally Germany was to develop the Sänger spaceplane single-handed, but the ambitious project fell by the wayside due to lack of funds. The ESA Hermes reusable launch vehicle was also abandoned due to lack of money and technical problems. All this is to change, for when in November of this year the European projects are presented for the first time, the ESA's Council at Ministerial Level will make a provisional choice.

Astrium, for example, favours the Hopper project, but whether this will actually be built remains to be seen. Whatever happens, they plan to be ready in Bremen, irrespective of which vehicle finally gets the funding. To this end the go-ahead was given in the spring for the development of a technology demonstrator designated Phoenix.

The German government, the state of Bremen, the DLR, OHB System GmbH and Astrium will be investing around DM 32 million ($14 million) over the next two years in this approximately seven metre long, 1.2 tonne testbed which primarily is intended to demonstrate the capability to land an unmanned, reusable launch vehicle.

In view of the large number of physical factors at play in the atmosphere, even today it is not possible to simulate every detail of the design of the air vehicle on a computer or in the wind tunnel, hence the need to build such a prototype. As Josef Kind, member of the Board of Management of Astrium N.V., confirmed to FLUG REVUE, the aim here is to acquire the necessary competence and hence secure system leadership for the re-entry and landing phases of a future European spaceplane.

Prospects for this are good, as suggested by the successful German involvement in the American X-38 demonstrator. But at the end of the day the question of whether sufficient funding will be available invariably raises its head. The German government and the DLR may be providing around DM 7 million ($3 million), but this is not exactly a princely sum when one considers that OHB System GmbH alone is investing one million.

"Germany is leading the way in Europe," announced the Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF), strutting in borrowed plumes, at the beginning of April, while in virtually the same breath Minister Edelgard Bulmahn, who had hosted the November meeting, brusquely dismissed the request of the ESA Director General for an increase in the German contribution. How long Germany can remain in second place in the European space nation stakes only the stars can tell. Italy at any rate has already declared itself ready to step into the breach.

From page 56 of FLUG REVUE 6/2001