The Horizon Europe project ICARUS has the goal to develop and flight test a fully European inflatable heatshield by 2028. This project is led by Elecnor-Deimos from Spain and has 10 other partners from Germany, Netherlands, Italy and France. In this project a demonstrator will be designed and built that will be flown on a Red Kite sounding rocket of the DLR. In the consortium, HDES is responsible for the inflation system, which consists of one or more Cool Gas Generators, tubing, sensors and interfaces. The baseline technology for the inflation system is the carbon dioxide generator, but the alternative of a hydrogen generator will also be investigated.
HDES aims to develop a Carbon dioxide CGG of 500 normal liters, 25 time larger than the present 20 normal MINOS generator. With this development, the product portfolio will be significantly expanded.
The aim of the consortium is to commercially produce inflatable heatshield for different space applications after completion of the project. HDES will be ready to equip them with series produced 500 nl Cool Gas Generators.