A new European aerospace enterprise is developing a rocket launcher capable of being reused up to five times and hopes it could go into commercial service in 2030.
Tuesday's announcement was made at International Paris Air Show by ArianeGroup's president, Alain Charmeau, who said the company will sign a deal with the European Space Agency aimed at developing a "low-cost, reusable rocket engine," which has been named Prometheus.
When asked if it was too late to be backing this type of reusable technology, Charmeau dismissed the possibility that other competitors could have similar technology ready and operational ahead of ArianeGroup.
He did point out that ArianeGroup remains unconvinced that a reusable rocket launch vehicle would not offer a significant drop in launch expenses, something the company hopes to achieve by 2030.
The test launch of the Ariane 6 launcher, the successor to Ariane 5, is slated for July 2020.
ArianeGroup hopes that by the end of this year it will have a European decision guaranteeing at least five annual launches from 2023 onwards.
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