P80-QM - qualification firing
The P80-QM which arrived at the booster integration building (BIP- Bâtiment Intégration Propulseur) on 11 July for its qualification firing, will be delivered to the solid booster test bench (BEAP) on 15 September for a firing test on 4 December 07
The P80 arrived at the beginning of April at the Propellant factory in French Guiana . Identical to the first specimen, the casting and removal of the wound core from the mould occurred as planned. The P80, reaching the end of its non-destructive test phase (conducted with X-rays and endoscopy), was delivered to Europropulsion on 10 July for integration of the booster and its partial instrumentation. Due for delivery to the BEAP at the end of August, the test has been realized on 4 December 2007 at 12:32.
On site, everyone has begun preparing and the BEAP was reactivated in the middle of May. According to the manager of the Ground Segment Sub-Directorate in Guiana (SDS – Sous-Direction Sol) for the CNES Launcher Directorate (DLA), once again, almost 600 measurement channels will be activated and optimised, by taking into account feedback from the first series of tests on the bench. Improvements include in particular, the processing of anomalies and configuring of some elements of the control system.
In Italy
Bench firing during engine qualification is a key element for launching a production phase. The next thruster to be made will be directly integrated in the first Vega for its launcher qualification flight.
The P80 Project Head at Avio, prime contractor for propulsion systems for the small launcher, has announced that at the same time as the structure is being qualified, the bursting tests of the P80 to be conducted on the bench on 30 November last have been re-scheduled to the end of the year. The aim is to pressurise the structure until it bursts in order to determine the technical tolerance margin. The partial firing failure of the Zefiro 9 on the bench has not put a stop to operations: every time a new engine is developed, this kind of ‘surprise’ can occur. All efforts are being made to overcome the problem by reviewing the nozzle definition in order to make the new qualification prototype of the Z9 more robust, while minimising the impact on production schedules.
Bench firing during engine qualification is a key element for launching a production phase. The next thruster to be made will be directly integrated in the first Vega for its launcher qualification flight.
The P80 Project Head at Avio, prime contractor for propulsion systems for the small launcher, has announced that at the same time as the structure is being qualified, the bursting tests of the P80 to be conducted on the bench on 30 November last have been re-scheduled to the end of the year. The aim is to pressurise the structure until it bursts in order to determine the technical tolerance margin. The partial firing failure of the Zefiro 9 on the bench has not put a stop to operations: every time a new engine is developed, this kind of ‘surprise’ can occur. All efforts are being made to overcome the problem by reviewing the nozzle definition in order to make the new qualification prototype of the Z9 more robust, while minimising the impact on production schedules.
