Topic: Airbus Adeline reusable Ariane first-stage engine
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 42988 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 06-06-2015 12:20 PM
Airbus Defence and Space on June 5 unveiled Adeline, the product a five-year effort to design a reusable Ariane rocket first-stage engine and avionics package, SpaceNews reports.
Airbus's Adeline — short for Advanced Expendable Launcher with Innovative engine Economy — imposes a much smaller performance penalty on its rocket than is the case for SpaceX's reusable Falcon 9 first stage, all the while reusing 80 percent of the stage's economic value — the engine, avionics and propulsion bay.
Addressing a press briefing at the Airbus facility here, company officials said they had worked for five years, outside the Airbus campus, in secrecy to secure the patents needed for Adeline. Part of the work was done with sister company Airbus Military Aircraft, whose work on unmanned aircraft and other atmospheric vehicles was used in Adeline's iterations.