“I have the feeling that nobody is interested,” said Éric Trappier at the parliamentary hearing a few weeks ago. And yet. The Dassault aviation space plane project has just standing out in the Aeronautical Show Bourget, which is held until Sunday.
The manufacturer of French airplanes has signed an army ministry with the support of the development of a demonstrator and a letter of intent with the European Space Agency (ESA) “to develop narrower relationships” in relation to the design of this spatial plane.
Called Vortex (for a reusable orbital vehicle for transport and exploration), these space vehicles will be “intrinsically dual” (or capable of operating for civil and military missions) and “will transform the uses of the space sector, open new fields of application.”
The machine should be able to carry out missions as diverse as the recovery of objects, falls, cargo transport and people to space stations, but also scientific research …
It is “the first step in a road map” destined to evolve as the development and technologies said Dassault in a press release, with the ambition to create “a family of space airplanes.”
A sovereignty problem
The model exposed to the “Space Center” of the Bourget Fair aroused the interest of visitors. It is a machine with round and refined lines, “winglet” as in commercial airplanes, an appearance of “fleece” (designed to resist very high temperatures) and a strong slogan: “a strategic asset for power and autonomy.”
A project that until then was discreet in the design offices of the manufacturer of airplanes, but is now under the focus. Dassault’s chief had recently raised the veil, without developing more, in this concept during a parliamentary hearing, stating: “I have a precise idea in mind, I also have the will.”
These two ads about the vortex are revealed while Emmanuel Macron, visiting the program, talked about the space sector. Therefore, he asked Europe to “fight” and give the means to become a space power, and announced that a national space strategy would be revealed in autumn, as well as the organization of a summit space in 2026.
A first flight demonstrator in 2028
The program is cut into four phases:
- Vortex-D will be a demonstrator at 1/3 scale,
- Vortex-S A 2/3 scale machine,
- Vortex-C in charge of charge 1
- And finally vortex-m a inhabited machine.
The first step aims in particular to lift the risks related to this technology, validate the principles of flight control and begin integration and trials of certain systems, says Dassault Aviation.
According to the data collected, the demonstrator of the 1/3 scale must measure 4 meters long for 2.5 meters, which would make Vortex -C and -M devices of approximately 12 meters with a wingspan of approximately 6 to 7 meters.
It is expected that a first demonstrator flight is 2028 and a first operational configuration could be established in 2031, an ambitious objective, which will require strong financing capabilities, according to an expert in the sector.
The spatial plane project and already included in the framework of the Military Programming Law 2024-2030, is mentioned in the “Innovation” component, which plan a total budget of 10 billion euros. The Military Programming Law provides “Pur technical-operating analysis refers to needs.”
Source: BFM TV
