ArianeWorks was an innovation platform initiated by CNES and ArianeGroup to blaze the trail for future generations of European launchers.

Key figures

• 2 keywords: accelerate and enlighten
• First project supported: Themis
• 25 projects accomplished
• 15 members in project team

Key milestones

• June 2022: ArianeWorks wound down
• 2019: Themis launcher project approved by ESA, the first supported by ArianeWorks
• 21 February 2019: ArianeWorks programme initiated by ArianeGroup and CNES
• December 2016: Prometheus becomes an ESA programme
• 2015: Prometheus engine project initiated and developed by CNES and ArianeGroup

Project in brief

ArianeWorks was a fully integrated project team with unprecedented independence and flexibility, backed by the most experienced Ariane engineers with expertise in knowledge bases, design models, production resources and test facilities.

This unit opened up new avenues and guided architecture choices. Operating like a start-up or a European “Skunkworks”, ArianeWorks was geared towards the exciting challenges of the decade ahead.

Two keywords encapsulated the missions of ArianeWorks: accelerate and enlighten.

Accelerate, because space is a fast-growing and fast-evolving field, calling for ever-more-agile space access solutions. The time between formulating an idea and getting it to the launch pad needs to be significantly shortened, through increasing adoption of iterative design and testing approaches.
Consequently, fostering innovation and new ideas for the next generations of space transportation appears more necessary than ever before.

Enlighten, in the sense of trailblazing, was the other mission of ArianeWorks, leveraging its agility, flexibility and short decision cycles to act as a catalyst for a more dynamic European ecosystem.

The first project assigned to ArianeWorks was Themis, a demonstrator of a versatile low-cost launcher first stage that will be a key element on the roadmap to future evolutions of Ariane. Cheaper, evolutionary, flexible and featuring deep tech innovations, Themis prefigures what future generations of European launchers could look like.

Themis will be powered by several Prometheus engines. This reusable engine delivering around 100 tonnes of thrust, burning oxygen/methane and affording a factor-of-ten reduction in costs compared to the Vulcain engine, is currently in development at ArianeGroup for ESA. Themis is also capitalizing on the know-how and technologies developed for Callisto, an experimental reusable vehicle designed by CNES, DLR and JAXA.

Themis will initially be tested as a technology demonstrator before envisaging operational applications that could take advantage of its modularity.

CNES’s role

The ArianeWorks programme was founded by CNES and ArianeGroup.

CNES contacts

Head of Space Transportation
Philippe Pujes
E-mail: philippe.pujes at cnes.fr