2023-12-25 20:17:46
Both startups changed their plans and began developing more powerful rockets. Latitude announces doubling the capacity of its Zéphyr, while Maiaspace changes dimension.
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The European launcher competition is launched… Today, it is the French response which is revealed following the Seville Space Summit, where the member states of the European Space AgencyEuropean Space Agency deplored disastrous management of Ariane 6 as well as its delays which are not without consequences. Europe has given the green light to competition between pitchers in the distant future. It’s time to show your new cards.
Maia’s big progress
Things are moving very quickly at Maiaspace. The start-up was founded less than two years ago but benefits from numerous advantages:
- Maiaspace is a subsidiary of ArianeGroup and can benefit from its funds to start its work without having to seek external funds. The start-up also benefits from the group’s powerful international network and its experience;
- The Maia rocket will be an heir to the European ThemisThemis demonstrator. It is currently the most successful project in terms of launcher reuse. The demonstrator is supposed to make “jumps” showing its ability to take off, then return to land on the surface like the first stages of SpaceXSpaceX’s Falcon rockets do. A first jump is planned in Kiruna (Sweden) next year, another later, at the Guiana Space Center.
- Maia’s propulsion is already at a very advanced stage thanks to the European Prometheus Prometheus engine supported by the European Space Agency (ESA), operating on liquid methane and liquid oxygen.
In Vernon, a historic French engine testing site now operated by ArianeGroup, Maiaspace seems to be happening ten times faster than everything else. Fire tests of Prometheus are progressing, as well as functional tests of Themis. A good omen for a “ hop test » in Kiruna next year, where the demonstrator will climb to several hundred meters above sea level. The teams in Vernon are also testing a deployable leg model like those of the Falcon 9Falcon 9.
Maia becomes an Ariane 1 version 2.0
The Maia rocket was initially expected to be able to place a satellite weighing up to 1,000 kilos into low orbit. But that was before. This week, Maiaspace announced that it was targeting new, much greater capacities. Maia is a response often put forward by the government in the face of the desire for competition launched by Germany, a forced response because Emmanuel Macron has long believed in European unity around Ariane 6Ariane 6. But Germany, motivated by the industrial OHB of which the start-up Rocket Factory Augsburg is the spinspin-offwants to challenge French supremacy in the field of launchers.
This week, Maiaspace announced an increase in the power of its launcher with new delivery capabilities in low sun-synchronous orbit:
- 1,500 kilos in non-reusable version;
- 500 kilos in reusable version.
The ArianeGroup subsidiary also announced the possibility of attaching a third stage under the launcher fairing, named ColibriColibri, whose development is already well advanced with first conclusive engine fire tests.
This new version of Maia with Colibri increases the carrying capacity to 2,500 kilos! This brings us closer to the old Ariane 1 rocket which took off for the first time just 44 years ago (December 24, 1979).
Current competition
But today, this capacity is in direct competition with VegaVega-C from prime contractor Avio, which got the green light to go it alone and market the rocket without having to go through ArianespaceArianespace, also a subsidiary of ArianeGroup. Avio is however in difficulty with Vega-C, down until the end of 2024 due to the failure of the second flight last year, and with the revelation of the accidental (but nevertheless stupid) loss of two tanks from the last Vega rocket in original version, compromising the flight.
Maia is also a stage whose heritage might be used by ArianeGroup to offer a reusable “Ariane 7” to compete with SpaceX, or the German RFA which is also working on a heavy version. Maiaspace’s announcements follow Emmanuel Macron’s speech in Toulouse on December 11. The President of the Republic notably declared that he accepted the competition (approved by the Seville Summit), saying that France had every means of winning.
Latitude doubles Zephyr’s capacity
This is the other announcement of the week: the Reims start-up LatitudeLatitude, which has just doubled the surface area of its factory, has announced that it wants to double the capacity of its Zéphyr micro-launcher, which will go from 100 kilos of payload to low orbit, at 200 kilos. Latitude specifies that this new capacity is possible thanks to the new version of the Navier engine.
Thus, Latitude positions itself in direct competition with the American Rocket Lab. The original version of Zéphyr will fly from 2025, and the more powerful version from 2028.
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