The UK arm of Norwegian aerospace and defence company Nammo has announced that it is preparing to deliver its first LEROS 4 engine to Firefly Aerospace for use aboard the company’s Blue Ghost lunar lander.
On 25 April, Nammo UK announced on LinkedIn that it had completed a hot fire test campaign of its LEROS 4 high-performance bipropellant engine. The testing was carried out at the National Space Propulsion Test Facility at Nammo UK HQ in Westcott, Buckinghamshire. While the exact performance of the engine was not shared, a Nammo UK spokesperson told European Spaceflight that it “performed well under the protoflight test campaign conditions.”
Development of the LEROS 4 engine began in the early 2010s and was initially led by Moog under an ESA Mars Robotic Exploration Programme contract. The programme was intended to pave the way for Europe’s contribution to future international Mars exploration missions. In 2017, Nammo purchased Moog’s European in-space propulsion business in the UK and Ireland, bringing the LEROS 4 project under the Nammo UK banner.
The standard LEROS 4 engine has a thrust range of between 900 and 1,100 newtons. However, the version that was test-fired and is now being prepared to be delivered to Firefly is the LEROS 4-ET (Extra Thrust) variant. It will serve as the Blue Ghost’s main engine on its maiden mission to the Moon, which is expected to be launched later this year.
Firefly has currently contracted Nammo UK to deliver two LEROS 4-ET engines. Additionally, Nammo UK has told European Spaceflight that it expects that the company will place an order for a third soon.
While the engine will make its debut aboard Blue Ghost, LEROS 4 is also the baseline propulsion choice for ESA’s EnVision mission to Venus. The deep-space probe is currently slated to be launched aboard an Ariane 62 in 2031.
