Hermes (shuttle)
Encyclopedia
Hermes was a proposed spaceplane
designed by the French Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES
) in 1975, and later by the European Space Agency
. It was superficially similar to the US X-20. France proposed in January 1985 to go through with Hermes development under the auspices of the ESA. Hermes was to have been part of a manned space flight program. It would have been launched using an Ariane 5
. The project was approved in November 1987, with an initial pre-development phase from 1988 to 1990, with a green light for full-rate development depending on the outcome of the phase. The project suffered numerous delays and funding issues. It was canceled in 1992 since neither cost nor performance goals could be achieved. No Hermes shuttles were ever built.
In the configuration envisioned prior to project termination, Hermes would carry three astronauts and a 3,000 kg pressurized payload. The final launch weight would be 21,000 kg, which was seen as the upper limit of what an extended Ariane 5 could lift. The Hermes would be 19.00 m in length.
pushed for a European shuttle mimicking those of the Soviet Union and the United States. The European Space Agency
approved the project, dubbed Hermes, in November 1987. It was envisioned that Hermes would service a small space station, the Man-Tended Free Flyer (MTFF), built primarily by the German and Italian Industry in the frame of the Columbus
program.
Hermes was to be developed in two phases.
disaster, it was felt necessary to include ejection capacity of some form to give astronauts at least a small chance of survival in case of catastrophe. Accordingly the six seats were now curtailed to only three regular ejection seats, which were chosen over an entirely ejecting crew capsule
that would have given the crew an escape option at heights over 28 km. The cargo capacity was limited to 3,000 kg. Hermes would not be able to place objects into orbit
as its cargo hold could not be opened; again this option was abandoned due to weight concerns.
Although Hermes was originally seen as being entirely reusable (up to 30 successive re-entries without major servicing), problems aligning the capacity of the Ariane 5 launcher with the design of Hermes itself forced it to leave behind its rear part, the Resource Module, before re-entry. A newly built resource module would then be attached to the Hermes space plane and the entire structure would be launched again.
Phase 1 was not completed until the end of 1991 and by then the political climate surrounding Hermes had changed considerably. The Iron Curtain
had been lifted and the Cold War
was ending. As a result, ESA decided to interject a year long "reflection" period to examine if it still made sense for Europe to build its own space shuttle and space station or if new partners could be found to share cost and development.
Officially, Phase 1 completed at the end of 1992, after a year of reflection.
. Economic concerns prevented RKA from properly participating in a future launcher program, but at this point most of ESA's crew transport capabilities had been reoriented towards a capsule type system (as opposed to the glider system that Hermes represented) which was what the joint Russian/European designs called for.
When both Russia and ESA joined up with NASA
to build the International Space Station
, the immediate need for a European crew transport system disappeared as both Russia and the USA had existing capabilities that did not need expansion. Accordingly ESA decided to abandon the Hermes project.
and Dassault-Breguet
, both French. Arianespace
built the Ariane 5 launcher and was seen as a strong candidate for running the Hermes infrastructure. No contract was ever signed, however.
, and they have been rejected. However ESA has completed the ATV
resupply vehicle, and will meet in 2008 to consider their CSTS
program (a counterpart to Orion
).
A test project, the Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV), is planned to demonstrate lifting reentry technologies in 2012.
Spaceplane
A spaceplane is a vehicle that operates as an aircraft in Earth's atmosphere, as well as a spacecraft when it is in space. It combines features of an aircraft and a spacecraft, which can be thought of as an aircraft that can endure and maneuver in the vacuum of space or likewise a spacecraft that...
designed by the French Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES
CNES
The is the French government space agency . Established under President Charles de Gaulle in 1961, its headquarters are located in central Paris and it is under the supervision of the French Ministries of Defence and Research...
) in 1975, and later by the European Space Agency
European Space Agency
The European Space Agency , established in 1975, is an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to the exploration of space, currently with 18 member states...
. It was superficially similar to the US X-20. France proposed in January 1985 to go through with Hermes development under the auspices of the ESA. Hermes was to have been part of a manned space flight program. It would have been launched using an Ariane 5
Ariane 5
Ariane 5 is, as a part of Ariane rocket family, an expendable launch system used to deliver payloads into geostationary transfer orbit or low Earth orbit . Ariane 5 rockets are manufactured under the authority of the European Space Agency and the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales...
. The project was approved in November 1987, with an initial pre-development phase from 1988 to 1990, with a green light for full-rate development depending on the outcome of the phase. The project suffered numerous delays and funding issues. It was canceled in 1992 since neither cost nor performance goals could be achieved. No Hermes shuttles were ever built.
Configuration
Hermes was to be launched on top of an Ariane 5 launcher and would consist of two parts: one part, a cone-shaped Resource Module which attached to the rear of the vehicle would be left behind before re-entry. Only the space plane itself would re-enter Earth's atmosphere and land.In the configuration envisioned prior to project termination, Hermes would carry three astronauts and a 3,000 kg pressurized payload. The final launch weight would be 21,000 kg, which was seen as the upper limit of what an extended Ariane 5 could lift. The Hermes would be 19.00 m in length.
Landing sites
Possible landing sites for the shuttle would be:- Guiana Space Centre
- Fort de France island (Martinique Aimé Césaire International AirportMartinique Aimé Césaire International AirportMartinique Aimé Césaire International Airport is the international airport of Martinique in the French West Indies. Located in Le Lamentin, a suburb of the capital Fort-de-France, it was opened in 1950 and renamed in 2007 after author and politician Aimé Césaire.- Passenger airlines :- Charter :-...
) - Bermudas
- IstresIstresIstres is a commune in southern France, some 60 km northwest of Marseille. It is in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, of which it is a subprefecture...
(Istres-Le Tubé Air Base)
Typical missions
Four typical missions were proposed:- Experiments are made on board, while in an equatorial 800 km orbit
- Flights to NASA's space station FreedomSpace Station FreedomSpace Station Freedom was a NASA project to construct a permanently manned Earth-orbiting space station in the 1980s. Although approved by then-president Ronald Reagan and announced in the 1984 State of the Union Address, Freedom was never constructed or completed as originally designed, and after...
at a 28.5 degree orbit - Flights to ESA's space station ColumbusColumbus (spacecraft)The Columbus Man-Tended Free Flyer was a European Space Agency program to develop a space station that could be used for a variety of microgravity experiments while serving ESA's needs for an autonomous manned space platform...
at a 60 degree orbit. - Flights to ESA's unmanned remote sensing Polar PlatformEnvisatEnvisat is an Earth-observing satellite. It was launched on 1 March 2002 aboard an Ariane 5 from the Guyana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guyana into a Sun synchronous polar orbit at an altitude of...
at a 98 degree 500 km orbit
Development
To ensure European autonomous access to space, in the mid-1980s the French space agency CNESCNES
The is the French government space agency . Established under President Charles de Gaulle in 1961, its headquarters are located in central Paris and it is under the supervision of the French Ministries of Defence and Research...
pushed for a European shuttle mimicking those of the Soviet Union and the United States. The European Space Agency
European Space Agency
The European Space Agency , established in 1975, is an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to the exploration of space, currently with 18 member states...
approved the project, dubbed Hermes, in November 1987. It was envisioned that Hermes would service a small space station, the Man-Tended Free Flyer (MTFF), built primarily by the German and Italian Industry in the frame of the Columbus
Columbus (ISS module)
Columbus is a science laboratory that is part of the International Space Station and is the largest single contribution to the ISS made by the European Space Agency ....
program.
Hermes was to be developed in two phases.
Phase 1: Study and pre-development.
This phase was scheduled to end in 1990. Initially the plans called for a capacity to lift 6 astronauts and 4,550 kg of cargo, but after the ChallengerSTS-51-L
STS-51-L was the twenty-fifth flight of the American Space Shuttle program, which marked the first time an ordinary civilian, schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe, had flown aboard the Space Shuttle. The mission used Space Shuttle Challenger, which lifted off from the Launch Complex 39-B on 28 January...
disaster, it was felt necessary to include ejection capacity of some form to give astronauts at least a small chance of survival in case of catastrophe. Accordingly the six seats were now curtailed to only three regular ejection seats, which were chosen over an entirely ejecting crew capsule
Space capsule
A space capsule is an often manned spacecraft which has a simple shape for the main section, without any wings or other features to create lift during atmospheric reentry....
that would have given the crew an escape option at heights over 28 km. The cargo capacity was limited to 3,000 kg. Hermes would not be able to place objects into orbit
Orbit
In physics, an orbit is the gravitationally curved path of an object around a point in space, for example the orbit of a planet around the center of a star system, such as the Solar System...
as its cargo hold could not be opened; again this option was abandoned due to weight concerns.
Although Hermes was originally seen as being entirely reusable (up to 30 successive re-entries without major servicing), problems aligning the capacity of the Ariane 5 launcher with the design of Hermes itself forced it to leave behind its rear part, the Resource Module, before re-entry. A newly built resource module would then be attached to the Hermes space plane and the entire structure would be launched again.
Phase 1 was not completed until the end of 1991 and by then the political climate surrounding Hermes had changed considerably. The Iron Curtain
Iron Curtain
The concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological fighting and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1989...
had been lifted and the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
was ending. As a result, ESA decided to interject a year long "reflection" period to examine if it still made sense for Europe to build its own space shuttle and space station or if new partners could be found to share cost and development.
Officially, Phase 1 completed at the end of 1992, after a year of reflection.
Phase 2: Final development, manufacture & initial operations.
This phase was never properly started, as ESA and the Russian Aviation and Space Agency (RKA) had agreed to cooperate on future launchers and a replacement space station for MirMir
Mir was a space station operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, at first by the Soviet Union and then by Russia. Assembled in orbit from 1986 to 1996, Mir was the first modular space station and had a greater mass than that of any previous spacecraft, holding the record for the...
. Economic concerns prevented RKA from properly participating in a future launcher program, but at this point most of ESA's crew transport capabilities had been reoriented towards a capsule type system (as opposed to the glider system that Hermes represented) which was what the joint Russian/European designs called for.
When both Russia and ESA joined up with NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
to build the International Space Station
International Space Station
The International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes...
, the immediate need for a European crew transport system disappeared as both Russia and the USA had existing capabilities that did not need expansion. Accordingly ESA decided to abandon the Hermes project.
Partners
The primary companies involved in Hermes were AérospatialeAérospatiale
Aérospatiale was a French aerospace manufacturer that built both civilian and military aircraft, rockets and satellites. It was originally known as Société Nationale Industrielle Aérospatiale...
and Dassault-Breguet
Dassault Aviation
Dassault Aviation is a French aircraft manufacturer of military, regional and business jets, a subsidiary of Dassault Group.It was founded in 1930 by Marcel Bloch as Société des Avions Marcel Bloch or "MB". After World War II, Marcel Bloch changed his name to Marcel Dassault, and the name of the...
, both French. Arianespace
Arianespace
Arianespace SA is a French company founded in 1980 as the world's first commercial space transportation company. It undertakes the production, operation, and marketing of the Ariane 5 rocket launcher as part of the Ariane programme....
built the Ariane 5 launcher and was seen as a strong candidate for running the Hermes infrastructure. No contract was ever signed, however.
Hardware and mock-ups
- A full scale mock-up (built by CNESCNESThe is the French government space agency . Established under President Charles de Gaulle in 1961, its headquarters are located in central Paris and it is under the supervision of the French Ministries of Defence and Research...
in 1987) is stored in Paris – Le Bourget AirportParis – Le Bourget AirportParis – Le Bourget Airport is an airport located in Le Bourget, Bonneuil-en-France, and Dugny, north-northeast of Paris, France. It is now used only for general aviation as well as air shows...
for repairs and perhaps future display - A 1/7 scale model (built by EADSEADSThe European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company N.V. is a global pan-European aerospace and defence corporation and a leading defence and military contractor worldwide...
) is on display at the Bordeaux-Mérignac Airport
Future
Europe has decided that its priority is the use of space for the European peoples' environmental wellbeing and security, and space science. ESA has on a number of occasions reconsidered plans superficially similar to Hermes, such as KliperKliper
Kliper is a partly reusable manned spacecraft, proposed by RSC Energia.Designed primarily to replace the Soyuz spacecraft, Kliper has been proposed in two versions: as a pure lifting body design and as spaceplane with small wings...
, and they have been rejected. However ESA has completed the ATV
Automated Transfer Vehicle
The Automated Transfer Vehicle or ATV is an expendable, unmanned resupply spacecraft developed by the European Space Agency . ATVs are designed to supply the International Space Station with propellant, water, air, payload and experiments...
resupply vehicle, and will meet in 2008 to consider their CSTS
CSTS
CSTS or ACTS is a human spaceflight system proposal. It was originally a joint project between the European Space Agency and the Russian Space Agency , but is now solely an ESA project...
program (a counterpart to Orion
Crew Exploration Vehicle
The Crew Exploration Vehicle was the conceptual component of the U.S. NASA Vision for Space Exploration that later became known as the Orion spacecraft...
).
A test project, the Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV), is planned to demonstrate lifting reentry technologies in 2012.
See also
- HopperHopper (spacecraft)Hopper was a proposed European Space Agency orbital and reusable launch vehicle. The shuttle prototype spaceplane was one of several proposals for a European reusable launch vehicle planned to cheaply ferry satellites into orbit by 2015...
, an unmanned, reusable satellite launch system that was developed and ultimately canceled by the ESA in the early 2000s.