Last week, the European Space Agency (ESA) and Thales Alenia Space signed with executives from Nammo to safe the deal, positioning Nammo’s high-performance, bipropellant Rocket Engine for Lunar and Interplanetary Anglo-Norwegian Commercial Exploitation (RELIANCE) engine on the centre of this system.
“This marks a major step forward for the RELIANCE development, Nammo’s ambitions and European capabilities,” stated Robert Selby, vice chairman of Nammo Space.
“We are honoured to be selected, and this is a testament to the remarkable team we have. We’re proud to contribute cutting-edge propulsion technology to the Argonaut mission and play a pivotal role in landing Europe on the moon for the first time.”
The 6kN RELIANCE engine options a wide variety throttleable design, hypergolic propellants and built-in engine controller, providing enhanced mission management for exact landings.
“The RELIANCE engine is under development at the Westcott Space Cluster, continuing the proud heritage of that site for British rocket propulsion technologies and creating highly skilled jobs,” stated Dr Paul Bate, CEO of the UK Space Agency.
“The innovative system could also support a wide range of further missions as we continue to work with our national and international partners to deliver the benefits of space to Earth.”
ESA’s Argonaut lunar lander is about for use as part of NASA’s Artemis program by transporting cargo, sources, meals and scientific tools to crews that hope to re-establish a human presence on the moon for the primary time because the Apollo mission in 1972.
Nammo has efficiently been utilized in lunar and interplanetary missions, together with in March this 12 months when Firefly Aerospace efficiently landed the primary industrial lunar lander, Blue Ghost, powered by Nammo’s LEROS 4 engine.