The ONERA propulsion laboratory is still in charge of issues related to the Ariane 5 solid boosters and is already undertaking those of Ariane 6.
Ariane 5
A first firing was carried out in January 2011, at ONERA Fauga-Mauzac centre, using the 1/35 scale model of an Ariane 5 P230 booster specifically developed to display the phenomenon of shock waves during lift off.
This successful campaign will continue with acoustic measurement tests on a simplified 1/35 scale model of the ELA-3 launch pad.
The model uses a star shaped propellant block that includes aluminium powder in its composition.
Ariane 6
A few months earlier, ONERA Fauga-Mauzac centre started to work on the future Ariane 6 launcher intended to take over from Ariane 5 in 2025.
A first firing thus took place on a representative model of the future P180 solid booster. The pressure and thrust measurements obtained will serve to validate future numerical simulations.
These firings were carried out at the ONERA DMAE department propulsion laboratory, as part of the developments for CNES - who manage the Ariane programmes, and Safran-SME (formerly SNPE) – which is responsible for solid propulsion.
