2019-o-1-05

Overview of the CALLISTO Project

By Shinji ISHIMOTO,1) Pascal TATIOSSIAN,2) and Etienne DUMONT3)

1)
Research and Development Directorate, JAXA, Tsukuba, Japan
2)
Launcher Directorate, CNES, Paris, France
3)
Institute of Space Systems, DLR, Bremen, Germany

This paper describes an overview of the technology demonstration project called CALLISTO. JAXA, CNES, and DLR,
based on equal partnership, have jointly performed system and project definition activities for a scaled reusable vertical take-
off and vertical landing (VTVL) demonstrator vehicle called CALLISTO. The objective of the CALLISTO project is to
obtain the data of flights and ground operations to verify the feasibility and potential interest of a future reusable VTVL first
stage. The overall goal is to demonstrate the capability to recover a vehicle in toss-back (or boostback) and vertical-landing
modes as well as turnaround operations linked to refurbishment and reuse. An overview of the project is given on mission
requirements, project organization, development and test plan, vehicle, and mission profile in the present paper.

Key Words: CALLISTO, reusability, demonstrator

1. Introduction The mission requirements on flights are defined as: the

vehicle shall
Reusability of launch vehicles is a potential measure to • Land on a designated landing platform, following a flight
substantially reduce launch service costs and open up new sequence including: a propelled ascent phase and a return
possibilities for space. JAXA, CNES, and DLR have shared the phase including a boostback maneuver and a reentry phase
common view that a reusable vertical take-off and vertical such that the transonic region is crossed.
landing (VTVL) first stage is a promising concept as the first • Demonstrate the capability to perform the following sequence
step of reusability. Based on this view, the three agencies have covering the flight conditions experienced by an operational
performed joint activities for a scaled reusable VTVL reusable VTVL first stage: attitude maneuver at low dynamic
demonstration vehicle to master key technologies to recover pressure and minimized propellant re-conditioning duration.
reusable first stages and to reuse them. This demonstrator will • Perform a landing boost with a minimum non-gravitational
pave the way leading to future launch vehicles after Ariane 6 in acceleration of 1.3 g at least during one flight.
Europe and H3 in Japan. A landing with a non-gravitational acceleration of more than 1g
The technology demonstration project is called CALLISTO, (this means that the engine thrust is greater than the force of
which stands for Cooperative Action Leading to Launcher gravity) is an important technique to save amounts of
Innovation for Stage Toss-back Operations. The Phase-A propellants.
feasibility study was kicked off in June 2017 and completed in
March 2018. Since then, preliminary system and project 3. Vehicle Description
definition study has been continued as the Phase-B activity to
the present. The system in the CALLISTO project consists of The CALLISTO vehicle is being designed to have a
the vehicle itself and the ground segment to operate it. capability to reach the supersonic region using a single rocket
This paper presents a broad overview of the CALLISTO engine and to return to the ground or a platform on the sea for
project. The interested reader is referred to Ref. 1) for a further reuse to meet the mission requirements. The vehicle size and
overview of the CALLISTO vehicle and mission design and mass are summarized in Table 1.
Ref. 2) for key technologies needed for a future reusable VTVL
first stage and development status. Table 1. Vehicle size and mass.
Item Value Unit
2. Project Objective and Mission Requirements Diameter 1.1 m
Total height 13.5 m
The objective of the CALLISTO project is to obtain the data Dry mass 1520 kg
of flights and ground operations to verify the feasibility and Take-off mass 3600 kg
potential interest of a future reusable VTVL first stage.
The overall goal is to demonstrate the capability to recover a Figure 1 shows the vehicle configuration with the
vehicle in toss-back (or boostback) and vertical-landing modes aerosurfaces (or fins) and the landing legs deployed. The
as well as turnaround operations linked to refurbishment and landing legs remain folded during the majority of a flight and
reuse with the aim to explore the overall mission cycle of a are deployed just before landing. The effectors for attitude
reusable first stage. control including the aerosurfaces are as follows:

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 • Four aerosurfaces driven by four electro-mechanical
actuators,
• Thrust Vector Control (TVC) system by gimbaling the
engine with two electro-mechanical actuators,
• Reaction Control System (RCS) composed of four
hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) thrusters.
The aerosurfaces are also folded during ascent, but they are
deployed at a high altitude and a small dynamic pressure in
preparation for a reentry flight where the vehicle bottom is in
the windward. They are used to stabilize and change attitudes
during an unpowered reentry phase and probably an early
powered landing phase to augment TVC control moments.
Planar fins are shown in Fig. 1, but a trade study is underway
between planar fins and grid fins as applied to Falcon 9. The
RCS thrusters as well as the aerosurfaces are installed at an Fig. 2. Engine.
upper position of the forward (or upper) fuselage called Vehicle
Equipment Bay (VEB). 4. Project Organization
The rocket engine for CALLISTO is shown in Fig. 2. The
propellants are liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. JAXA JAXA, CNES, and DLR formed a joint team to promote the
developed an experimental small engine generating a thrust of development of the CALLISTO system. The joint team is
40kN at the sea level and demonstrated reusability over more organized based on equal partnership, and project management
than 100 times in a previous research activity.3) This engine is leaders and technical leaders are shared among the three
dubbed RSR (Reusable Sounding Rocket) engine. The engine agencies. Managing the CALLISTO project is a challenging
for CALLISTO is equivalent to RSR engine, but JAXA will task, because the three agencies are geographically separated,
redesign and newly manufacture an improved engine (dubbed and technical backgrounds are very different among joint team
RSR2 engine) whose thrust increases by 10% and whose members. Through two-year joint activity, we have learned
envelope and mass are reduced to be fitted to the CALLISTO frequent face-to-face meetings are very effective for mutual
vehicle. In addition to reusability, these engines have throttling understanding and progress in technical activities.
and re-ignition capabilities as distinguished characteristics. The work sharing among the three agencies has been defined
RSR2 engine can modulate thrust continuously between 16kN considering each agency’s technical interests. Figure 3 shows
and 44kN at the sea level. the main elements of the CALLISTO system and development
responsibilities for each element. As mentioned above , JAXA
is responsible for the engine. All flights of the CALLISTO
vehicle will take place inside or in the proximity of Guiana
Space Center (CSG) managed by CNES, and therefore CNES
is responsible for the ground facilities.
One of key technologies in the CALLISTO project is
guidance and control. All the three agencies are interested in
guidance and control software, and so two versions of guidance
and control software will be developed and flight-tested: one
by CNES while the other jointly by JAXA and DLR.

5. Development and Test Plan

JAXA has developed a precursory vehicle called RV-X

(Reusable Vehicle-Experiment) prior to CALLISTO. RV-X is
also a VTVL vehicle equipped with RSR engine. The flight
tests of RV-X are planned in 2019 in Noshiro Rocket Testing
Center of JAXA. RV-X, which has been developed by JAXA
and industrial partners in Japan, is outside the scope of the
CALLISTO project but is expected to provide critical data for
the design of CALLISTO. For example: propulsion system
characteristics such as helium pressurization and consumption
data and vibration environment data during engine combustion.
The CALLISTO vehicle is broke down into some modules
for development. The modules assembled in Europe will be
transported to Japan and be integrated with the modules
Fig. 1. Vehicle configuration.
assembled in Japan into the vehicle. The integrated vehicle will

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 Fig. 3. Main elements and responsibilities.

undergo vehicle-level ground tests in JAXA Tsukuba Space The refinement of the development and test plan and the plan
Center. Subsequently, it will be conveyed to Noshiro Rocket for maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) operations after
Testing Center and be subjected to several static firing tests. flights in CSG are ongoing among the three agencies.
Upon completion of the tests in Japan, the vehicle will be
transported to CSG. In CSG, tests combining the vehicle and 6. Mission Profiles
the ground segment will be conducted before flights.
The flight campaign will proceed in a step-by-step approach Figure 4 shows an example of mission profiles. A downrange
to reduce risks. Four risk-reduction flights and a demonstration trajectory has been studied for the demonstration objectives.
flight are considered for each of the two flight software The vehicle will land on a platform on the sea. The three red
products at the present moment. parts of the trajectory in Fig. 4 correspond to powered phases

Fig. 4. An example of mission profiles

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where the engine is turned on, while the two green parts is scheduled within 2019 to complete the present joint activities
unpowered phases. The flight sequence is similar to those and to move to the next project phase.
carried out by future operational reusable first stages.
For risk-reduction flights where both downrange and altitude References
are limited as compared with demonstration flights, the vehicle
will land on landing zones in the proximity of the Diamant 1) Desmariaux, J., Moreno, E. C., Chavagnac, C., Saito, Y., and
launch site. MRO operations after flights will be performed in Dumont, E. : CALLISTO Reusable Vehicle System Design, 32nd
Vehicle Preparation Hall (VPH) at Diamant site in CSG. International Symposium on Space Technology and Science (ISTS),
Fukui, Japan, 2019-g-02, 2019.
2) Dumont, E., Ishimoto, S., Tatiossian, P. et al.: CALLISTO: A
7. Concluding Remarks Demonstrator for Reusable Launcher Key Technologies, 32nd
International Symposium on Space Technology and Science (ISTS),
Fukui, Japan, 2019-g-03, 2019.
This paper has described an overview of the CALLISTO Nonaka, S., Ito, T., and Inatani, Y.: Technology Demonstrations and
3)
project with respect to mission requirements, project System Design for Reusable Rocket Flight Experiment, 68th
organization, development and test plan, vehicle, and mission International Astronautical Congress (IAC), IAC-17.D2.5.4,
profile. JAXA, CNES and DLR have jointly conducted the Adelaide, Australia, 2017.
4) Nonaka, S. et al.: Study on Flight Demonstration for Reusable
preliminary definition study of a scaled reusable VTVL Vehicle Experiment RV-X, 32nd International Symposium on Space
demonstration vehicle to master key technologies for future Technology and Science (ISTS), Fukui, Japan, 2019-g-01, 2019.
reusable first stages. A joint preliminary design review (PDR)