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Airbus, which leads production of the Ariane rocket, has a new re-usable rocket concept called Adeline.
The firm's engineers believe the basic Adeline idea could be incorporated into any liquid-fuelled launcher, however big or small.
It takes the form of a winged module that goes on the bottom of the rocket stack.
Inside are the main engines and the avionics - the high-value parts on all rockets.
The module would be integral to the job of lifting the mission off the pad in the normal way, but then detach itself from the upper-stages of the rocket once the propellants in the tanks above it were exhausted.
The Adeline module's next step would be re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere. For this, it would have a protective heat shield on its bulbous nose.
At a certain point in the descent, Adeline would pull up using its small winglets, and steer itself towards a runway.
Small deployable propellers would aid control as it essentially operated like a drone to find its way home.
Herve Gilibert, technical director for Airbus’ Space Systems division, said the Adeline propulsion unit — engine and avionics — is where lies most of the value of the first stage. The Airbus team concluded that SpaceX’s design of returning the full stage to Earth could be simplified by separating the propulsion bay from the rest of the stage, protecting the motor on reentry and, using the winglets and turbofans, return horizontally to a conventional air strip.
“We are using an aerodynamic shield so that the motor is not subjected to such high stress on reentry,” Gilibert said. “We need very little fuel for the turbofans and the performance penalty we pay for the Ariane 6 launcher is far less than the 30 percent or more performance penalty that SpaceX pays for the reusable Falcon 9 first stage.
It sounds like they're planning on modifying the Ariane 6 (set to fly for the first time in 2020) to use this technology at some point, but not right away. They expect it will reduce launch costs by a projected 20 to 30 percent.
Original Submission
(Score: 3, Funny) by janrinok on Tuesday June 09 2015, @12:32PM
We will replace them with your submissions just as soon as we receive them.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 09 2015, @05:46PM
The problem isn't with the number of submissions. There were and are lots of other good submissions in the queue.
The problem is with the small number of really shitty ones.
As an editor, you need to focus on getting rid of those shitty ones, rather than putting them on the front page like has happened so often lately.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by janrinok on Tuesday June 09 2015, @06:17PM
Perhaps not everyone agrees with your own view of what constitutes a good submission and what doesn't. If you want to edit submissions then you will be welcome on the team. Contact either myself or mrcoolbp via email or on IRC.
Maybe an editor will think that the story is worth printing, Perhaps another will want to rewrite it. But we don't just delete them because an AC doesn't like them. Somebody has put some effort into producing them, the least we can do is to see if they are worth putting through the editorial system. And simply because you don't agree with what someone has written doesn't mean it can't reach the front page. We are not here to censor, nor support or counter any particular political viewpoint. As long as the submission can be backed up with a factual report then there might be something in it that is worth discussing.
The best way to counter what someone is saying is to make your own submission - backed up with factual reporting of course - to put across your own point of view. Or simply wait and see if it makes the front page and then make as many comments as you wish. But please don't try to have other voices silenced by asking us to remove submissions before anyone has a chance to look at them.