Aerocapture for Future Space Transportation

Mozelos/ VFR, Portugal - Dec 23, 2009 - AEROFAST's main goal is to improve aerocapture transportation technology. Today the technology readiness level (TRL) of an aerocapture mission is roughly 2 to 3 in Europe. AEROFAST's goal is to prepare for a flight demonstration on a planet with atmosphere - the Earth or Mars - and to reach a TRL level of 3 to 4.
The project is an important step towards the development of advanced transportation systems that will allow for human expansion into the solar system, moving humans and cargo more easily between Earth and space, and also returning humans from the Moon or from Mars. Indeed, looking ahead, today's globalised world might seem small, when future generations live in a time of high speed interplanetary mobility.

LIST OF PARTNERS
= Astrium SAS (AST-F), France
= Astrium GmbH (AST-D), Germany
= DEIMOS Engenharia S.A., Portugal
= Amorim Cork Composites S.A., Portugal
= Samtech S.A., Belgium
= Universita degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", Italy
= Instituto Nacional de Engenharia, Tecnologia e Inovacao (INETI), Portugal
= Solar-Terrestrial In#uences Laboratory at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (STIL-BAS), Bulgaria
= Instytut Lotnictwa (IoA), Poland
= Centrum Badan Kosmicznych Polskiej Akademii Nauk (SRC-PAS), Poland
= O>ce National d'Etudes et Recherches Aerospatiales (ONERA), France
= Kybertec s.r.o., Czech Republic

Aerocapture for Future Space Transportation (AEROFAST)
Contract no: 218797
Starting date: 01/01/2009
Duration: 30 months
EU Contribution: EUR 1.924.374
Estimated total cost: EUR 2.961.592

 

Company Center: Amorim Cork Composites