The tests are progressing well for Prometheus, the future fuse engine of Europe. He will equip the next Ariane rocket, but also more specialized launchers, such as Themis and Maia.
There are the static fire -to -fire tests that go badly. And there are the tests that are going well. Chance of the calendar, while SpaceX was experiencing a terrible failure on June 18, 2025 during a verification concerning the upper floor of his giant Starship rocket, named Ship 36, Arianegroup successfully completed, barely two days later, a Prometheus ignition campaign.
Prometheus is not the name of a new rocket, but the appointment of a new type of engine-fuse that will be intended to equip future European launchers-like Ariane Next, which will succeed Ariane 6, but also Themis, a reusable first floor demonstrator, and MAIA, a reusable mini-length.
On June 20, therefore, on Vernon’s test bench in Eure, Arianegroup carried out a test ” including four successive starts »From the motor with variable reusable variable pushes of class 100 tonnes Prometheus. This is a restart capacity ” unique in Europe », Underlines the company in its press release on July 2.
These tests are part of the wake of a test campaign launched a few years ago now. The first ignition dates from the month of November 2022. Other tests followed, in particular in June 2023, with a combined test of Prometheus with Themis, pending his first test flight, hoped for early 2026 (with a first leap at the end of 2025).
« This ability to carry out a large number of fire tests in the same day is an important asset for development “Commented the company, stressing a” complex implementation ». These series ignitions do not, however, mark the end of the test campaign: other tests will take place in the weeks and months to come.
What characteristics for Prometheus?
Officialized in 2017, the Prometheus project must succeed the Vulcan-fushed engine which was used for Ariane 5 and which is still used in Ariane 6 (in the Vulcan 2.1 version) at the level of the first floor (the second is powered by an engine called Vinci). In addition, Ariane 6 is supported by lateral propellants by two or four, depending on the configuration chosen.
Given the characteristics of Themis and Maia, Prometheus will therefore have a reuse capacity, but it will not be its only peculiarity. It must also be “cheap”, by bringing the cost of development to a tenth of that of Vulcan 2, according to the European space agency. This is to be more competitive on the launcher market.
In addition to a low cost approach, this fuse engine must change ergol. If Vulcan uses a mix of oxygen and hydrogen in liquid form, its successor must rest on a mixture of oxygen and liquid methane. Methane is easier to handle than hydrogen and easier to liquefy. However, this is done at the cost of a lower performance.
One thing, on the other hand, does not change: the inspiration drawn from the ancient pantheon. After Vulcan, which refers to the Roman divinity linked to fire and to the forge, Prometheus constitutes an obvious reference to Prometheus, a figure of ancient Greece, which it is said to have offered fire to humanity, by stealing it from the gods of Olympus.
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