ArianeGroup has successfully completed a series of hot-fire tests of a 3D-printed, flight-configured 240N hydrogen peroxide thruster.
In a 22 May update on LinkedIn, ArianeGroup senior orbital propulsion engineer Ulrich Gotzig announced the successful completion of the test campaign, which took place on the M11 test bench at the DLR facilities in Lampoldshausen. While Gotzig offered very little detail about the thruster and its purpose, his post did include that its development had been funded, in part, through the European Commission’s SALTO project.
The reuSable strAtegic space Launcher Technologies & Operations (SALTO) project is a European Union-funded initiative launched in December 2022. Led by ArianeGroup, SALTO aims to advance key technologies for reusable launch vehicles, with a particular emphasis on validating vertical landing capabilities. The project is closely tied to the European Space Agency’s Themis programme, which serves as a primary testbed for demonstrating these technologies. Themis is expected to perform its first hop test later this year.
ArianeGroup will utilize the Prometheus rocket engine for the Themis demonstrator’s primary means of propulsion and has contracted Poland’s SpaceForest to develop the “flip control thruster,” which will initiate the rotation of the Themis main stage before the re-entry burn. The recently validated 240N hydrogen peroxide thruster may be part of the Themis reaction control system, enabling fine attitude control during various flight phases, including ascent, descent, and landing.
Final preparations for the first iteration of the Themis vehicle are currently underway at ArianeGroup’s facilities in Les Mureaux, France. These preparations likely include the final verification of flight-configured components, in line with the recent completion of the thruster’s hot-fire test campaign. The thrusters can now be integrated into the demonstrator before it is shipped to the launch site in northern Sweden.
While this conclusion is speculative, it is unlikely that the thruster’s development, as part of the SALTO project, has nothing to do with Themis.
