Europe’s efforts to build a re-entry vehicle took a step forward last week with the launch of the Atmospheric Reentry Demonstrator Capsule aboard the final Ariane 5 launch test. Deployed without incident the capsule splashdown in the central Pacific where it was successfully recovered for further analysis.
The entire flight of the Atmospheric Re-entry Demonstrator (ARD) had been controlled by the dedicated Control Centre established at the Toulouse Space Centre of the French space agency CNES. There the ARD programme team had followed the capsule’s progression, its acquisition by the down-range stations and by the tracker planes over the Pacific.
Patrice Amadieu, Head of ATV/CTV projects division at ESA, gave details on the final phase of this very successful mission. The capsule hit the water at T + 1h 43 min to within a little less than 5 km of the predicted target. It has now been retrieved and is on its way back to Europe.
Philippe Couillard, Director of Aerospatiale Space Transportation and Ballistics, and G¿rald Br¿ard, ARD programme director, were visibly delighted. “This first European re-entry constitutes a great achievement. We had over the years done a lot of paper work on previous projects” said M.Couillard.” Today we have concrete results. We have taken a significant step forward and our efforts must be pursued.”
For M.Br¿ard the mission “obtained a 20/20 mark”. “We had in our team young engineers for whom this mission was a first experience. It is one they will never forget.”
The most surprising fact, according to M.Br¿ard, had been the ARD’s ability to rely on the GPS data for its navigation. The capsule’s inertial reference system had, after comparative tests with its own data, used this satellite information to control its re-entry right down to the splashdown. This occurred after the opening of the first parachute at 13,850 m. The deceleration during the descent did not exceed 10g and the ARD reached the water at around 20km/h.
As to the conditions of the ARD after its suborbital flight, M.Br¿ard said that the thermal protection appeared to be still worthy of a return flight. There was also some 15 kg of unused hydrazine aboard the capsule. “Give us a launcher and we’ll fly again tomorrow!”.
