ESA Open Invitation to Tender AO9533
Open Date: 03/09/2018
Closing Date: 19/10/2018 13:00:00

Status: ISSUED
Reference Nr.: 18.123.06
Prog. Ref.: Technology Developme
Budget Ref.: E/0901-01 – Technology Developme
Special Prov.: BE+DK+FR+DE+IT+NL+ES+SE+CH+GB+IE+AT+NO+FI+PT+GR+LU+CZ+RO+PL+EE+HU
Tender Type: C
Price Range: 200-500 KEURO
Products: Launchers / Propulsion / Liquid propulsion engines – BB / Turbo-pumps
Techology Domains: Propulsion / Chemical Propulsion Technologies / Liquid Propulsion Systems
Establishment: ESTEC
Directorate: Directorate of Tech, Eng. & Quality
Department: Mechanical Engineering Department
Division: Propulsion & Aerothermodynamics Division
Contract Officer: Almeida, Rudolfo
Industrial Policy Measure: N/A – Not apply
Last Update Date: 03/09/2018
Update Reason: Tender issue

Currently the ability to re-use launchers, especially the first stage is under consideration by several agencies/nations. There arehowever key technology hurdles that must be overcome to obtain true re-usability associated with low cost and minimum maintenance between flights. This is especially true for the first stage, which generally has the most demanding performancerequirements.One ofthe key technologies is long life turbopumps that have an ultimate requirement for many hours of operation. However, to achieve thisthe issues of long life bearings for the turbopump main shaft have to be addressed, in particular for cryogenic applications, for both liquid oxygen and hydrogen, taking into account the poor lubrication capabilities of those fluids. In thiscontext, the use of journal bearings appears a very promising option, implying continuous fluid film separation between the bearing surfaces at steady-state running conditions, and therefore minimising wear and other degradation over life.Future turbopump and bearing designs shall also consider the reusability requirement, linked with the compatibility with nondestructive inspection and in-situ health or condition monitoring (including the relevant instrumentation, data acquisition, postprocessing interpretation of the analysis results).Aprecursor TRP activity was carried out on journal bearings before, with not completely satisfactory experimental results, highlighting the need for design optimisations and possibly some different material selection.The activity shall therefore include the following tasks:- Review of the state of the art with regard to turbopump designs, journal bearing technologies, material selection and advanced manufacturing techniques- Preliminary design and analysis of potential solutions taking into account the results of the previous TRP activity- Trade-off of preliminary design solutions to down-select several potential baseline designs- Development of atechnology development roadmap- Design and manufacturing of a breadboard demonstrator (funding dependent); a re-use of available tools and test benches is recommended (as far as possible), in order to minimize costs.

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