ARIANE 5 SRM NOZZLE EVOLUTION

摘要

The development and ground qualification of the Ariane 5 solid rocket motor nozzle was successfully completed by mid 1995. The first design 'nozzle A' has been operated 32 times successfully on flying motors. Several design improvement have been implemented and qualified since the turn of the century thanks to passenger tests on the three motor ground firing tests performed under a production accompanying program. Nozzle designs B and C are in the production process and 12 nozzles have been flown successfully (09/2005). The last design evolution called 'nozzle D' allows to cope with the production cost and cycle reductions claimed by our customer for the coming production order of 60 nozzles. This nozzle will fly from 2006 up to 2011. New nozzle cost effective technologies are under development in the frame of the CNES P80 DEMONSTRATOR program. Snecma Propulsion Solide is in charge of the nozzle. Some attractive results are right now available at nozzle components level and validation at motor level will be acquired during the firing tests planned in 2006 and 2007. The possibilities to implement these new technologies on the MPS production program are under review in order to define the best compromise between overall improvements (costs, performances, cycles...) and constraints coming from production continuity and existing motor design.