French engineering group Technip Energies (T.EN) is in the process of completing Factory Acceptance Tests for a robot that will be used to connect and disconnect umbilicals from the Callisto reusable rocket demonstrator before and after liftoff.
Callisto is being jointly developed by CNES, DLR, and JAXA to mature key technologies for future reusable launch vehicles. CNES is responsible for the project’s ground segment, which includes the construction of the launch and landing facility at the Guiana Space Centre.
As part of the project’s ground segment, CNES proposed using a mobile robot to support hazardous ground operations around the reusable rocket demonstrator, including the disconnection and reconnection of ground interfaces prior to liftoff and after landing. Following the completion of a request for proposals in late 2021, the agency awarded a contract to the French robotics company Cybernetix to design and deliver this robot.
Cybernetix was acquired by T.EN in 2012. Although it was still a separate entity when the contract was initially awarded, it has since been fully integrated into T.EN, along with responsibility for providing the Callisto ground support robot.
On 14 December, the Callisto ground segment project manager at CNES, Sylvain Leroy, announced that Factory Acceptance Tests for the ground support robot were underway at Le Castellet airport in the south of France. Factory Acceptance Tests are used to prove that a system meets all contractual, technical, and safety requirements before it is shipped to the customer.
Once these tests are completed, the robot will be shipped to the Guiana Space Centre, where the Callisto launch infrastructure is being built on the grounds of the old Diamant launch facility. The facility will include a small Safe Haven structure near the launch and landing pad, where the robot will retreat during liftoff and recovery operations.
While CNES, DLR, and JAXA have yet to make any official announcements regarding an expected inaugural flight of Callisto, a 12 September call for proposals published by the French space agency suggests that the demonstrator’s first flight is now expected not to take place before 2027.
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