European Newspace Vertical Orbital Launcher: Achievements of the H2020 ENVOL Project
Creators: name:  G. LIGGIERI 
name:   M. FAENZA 
name:   R. RICCIARDI 
name:   N. FRISCHAUF 
name:   E. DIEZ 
name:   P. CHRIST 
name:   S. HAUGSNES 
name:   W. SCHOROTH 
name:   D. DAUTZENBERG 
name:   C. ANDERSSON 
Publisher: name: Proceedings of  the 9th European Conference for Aerospace Sciences. Lille, France, 27 June - 1 July, 2022
Year: 2022
Subjects: FUTURE SPACE OPERATIONS

description: As a result of the technological improvements in the past two decades with respect to the miniaturisation of electronics in general and of spacecraft on-board systems in particular, the space launch market has witnessed a substantial growth in the number of small satellites that are planned to be launched into low-Earth orbits. Meanwhile, due to the influence of NewSpace initiatives, the space market is being pushed towards the commercialisation of a faster and cheaper access to space. However, the growth of these sectors is not yet supported by the availability of reliable, cost-effective and dedicated launch vehicles. To answer these needs, and following the work performed in previous projects such as SMILE, HYPROGEO and ALTAIR, nine European aerospace companies coordinated by Nammo have joined forces as part of the ENVOL (European Newspace Vertical Orbital Launcher) project, within the framework of the European Unions Horizon 2020 programme. This three-year project aims to provide Europe with its first commercial, competitive and green launch service, which will follow a true NewSpace approach to offer low-cost, frequent and flexible access to space in low-Earth and Sun-synchronous orbits to small satellites (up to 200 kg) by 2024. The project partners bring together a multidisciplinary set of competences fit to address all the key building blocks needed for the creation of a commercially viable and competitive launch service. The launch vehicle that will result from the ENVOL project will rely on the green and storable hybrid rocket propulsion technology based on hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) as liquid oxidiser, which has been matured by Nammo over the past decade. To reduce costs while improving the launchers quality and performance, the overall architecture will be modular and the development will follow a staggered approach. Several demonstrators are foreseen to improve the maturity of critical subsystems and to acquire a high level of launch system maturity. To that end, the composite oxidiser structural tanks, the H2O2 turpbopump, as well as the launcher and payload avionics are considered to be technologies of crucial focus. The ground segment will be designed to have the simplest and fewest possible interfaces with the launch vehicle in order to be low-cost, automated, flexible and easily deployable. The design of the payload systems will be based on the varying requisites of different customers, and it will be able to adapt to different mission profiles. For this reason, the avionics and the interconnected subsystems and elements that interface with the payload have to be standardised and modularised. This approach will reduce costs, enhance the availability of the launcher and, at the same time, provide a customer-centric payload service model that can comply with the requirements of satellites that fall within the ENVOL space mission envelope. The ENVOL project will also focus on the business and development plans built on industrial expertise, which ensures the competitiveness of its proposed launch service on the space market. Once the project is at a sufficient level of maturity, the ENVOL consortium will transform itself into an organisation capable of attracting investments, while ensuring that the work performed in the project will be transferred into a commercial activity servicing the small satellite launch market in Europe and beyond. This article will present the ENVOL project, its status and results achieved within its first phase, with a focus on the initial system architecture, the next steps and possible future evolutions.