The European Space Agency (ESA) has awarded an additional €230 million to ArianeGroup for the development of the Themis demonstrator and the refinement of the Prometheus rocket engine. The funding will support the development of a second Themis demonstrator, an upgraded Prometheus engine, and the renovation of relevant testing and ground infrastructure. Themis was initially introduced as a project by CNES in 2018 and was adopted by ESA member states at the 2019 ministerial council meeting in Seville.
ArianeGroup received an initial €75 million in funding to develop Prometheus, the engine proposed to power the Themis demonstrator. The first Themis contract, valued at €33 million, was awarded by ESA to ArianeGroup in December 2020. Additional funding of €135 million followed in May 2021, and the European Commission contributed another €56.4 million in July 2022.
The latest funding will support the development of the Themis T1E (Themis One-Engine Evolution), which will include upgraded structures and propellant tanks. This will allow it to fly higher and for longer durations. Medium altitude hop tests of the T1E Themis demonstrator are slated to occur at Esrange Space Centre in Sweden.
Prometheus refinements will focus on enabling the low-cost industrial manufacture, maintenance, and reusability of the engine.
Reusable rocket research growth
Part of the new funding will be used to adapt the PF50 test stand in Vernon, previously used to test Ariane Vulcain engines.
Alongside the new vehicle manufacturing and Prometheus upgrades, ArianeGroup will design and test technologies needed for stage recovery, such as grid-fin aerodynamic stabilizers. The initial flight of the first Themis demonstrator is expected in 2025. In addition to Themis, the funding will support the development of Maia, a rocket being developed by MaiaSpace, a wholly-owned subsidiary of ArianeGroup.
Maia is a partially reusable rocket that will utilize the Themis demonstrator’s architecture for its first stage, which includes the use of Prometheus engines. This investment is seen as a stepping stone in the development of an institutional reusable rocket for Europe and will contribute directly to the future commercial success of MaiaSpace. ESA’s Director of Space Transportation, Toni-Tolker Nielsen, and Philippe Clar, Head of Civil Space Programs at ArianeGroup, recently signed two contract riders valued at approximately €230 million.
These contracts aim to further the demonstration of the Prometheus engine and the reusable rocket stage demonstrator, Themis. “These two contract riders are a significant investment that will take Europe further toward having a low-cost reusable rocket, with far-reaching benefits for people in our Member States, including creating highly skilled competencies in Europe,” said Nielsen. European cooperation is ArianeGroup’s core DNA, and these new steps in the development of reuse technologies in Europe are boosting the motivation of our teams and our partners,” added Clar.
“Signing these two contracts so soon after taking up the job is exciting, and I wish to thank the European Space Agency for its confidence and its commitment.”
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