Atmospheric Reentry Experimental Spaceplane (ARES) is a robotic spaceplane concept. The project merged with the French Dassault Aviation VEHRA programme to produce a concept called Dassault Ares Spaceplane.
Overview
The initial concept study was produced by Aerospatiale in 1998, called Atmospheric Reentry Demonstrator (ARD). ARES envisioned a delta wing spaceplane with a mass of and a wingspan of .ARES- French Spaceplane. Mark Wade, Astronautix. Accessed on 21 December 2018. Aerodynamic studies in wind tunnels were performed between 2005 and 2009 when engineers tested some phases of the reentry trajectory at several Mach numbers and angles of attack. The results obtained characterized the drag, lift, and pitching moment coefficients as functions of the angle of attack and Reynolds number.MODELING OF HIGH-VELOCITY FLOWS IN ITAM IMPULSE FACILITIES. Prof. A.M. Kharitonov.Kharitonov A.M., Zvegintsev V.I., Brodetsky M.D., Mazhul I.I, Muylaert J.M., Kordulla W., Paulat J.C., Aerodynamic investigation of aerospace vehicles in the new hypersonic wind tunnel AT-303 in ITAM, Proc. 4th Int. Symp. on Atmospheric Re-Entry Vehicles and Systems, March 21–23, 2005, Arcachon, France.Adamov N.P., Kharitonov A.M., Mazhul I.I., Zvegintsev V.I., Paulat J.-C. Total aerogasdynamic characteristics of the ARES aerospace demonstrator, Proc. 3rd European Conf. for Aerospace Sciences 6–9 July 2009.
The ARES design was merged with the Dassault VEHRA project to produce a single French proposal, called Dassault Ares Spaceplane, which was proposed to the Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle technology demonstrator of the ESA Future Launchers Preparatory Programme. This was to be a reusable winged rocket-powered atmospheric demonstrator capable of reaching speeds of Mach 4 to 10 and was aimed at building up experience between 2003-2007 in reuse operations and high-speed atmospheric flight for landing on a runway.EXTV: Dassault Ares Spaceplane. Mark Wade, Astronautix. Accessed on 21 December 2018.
After reviewing several European submissions, ESA officials chose in 2010 an Italian design now known as the Space Rider, which is now in development and expected to be dropped from a balloon in 2019 and will have a first flight atop a Vega-C rocket in 2020 or 2021.
See also
Atmospheric Reentry Demonstrator, ESA spaceplane prototype tested once in 1998 Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle, an ESA Programme IXV, prototype tested in 2015 OREX, equivalent Japanese demonstrator from 1994 Space Rider, spaceplane to be tested in 2022
References
External links Video of a 1996 concept of VEHRA by Dassault Presentation in 2006 of the VEHRA-VSH project (Acrobat Reader format)