The future of space travel is with reusable rockets. They will reduce budgets and make it possible to launch missions at a faster pace. SpaceX has pioneered the reusable rocket, and now the European Space Agency is taking the ball with the Prometheus rocket engine. From SlashGear:
The agency anticipates this rocket engine costing only 1/10th that of the Ariane 5 Vulcain 2 main stage engine. Prometheus will be suitable for both the upper stage and main stage usage, according to the ESA, joining other features to be ‘highly flexible.’
At this time, the engine’s main subsystems are being manufactured, a process that includes additive layer manufacturing (ALM) that constructs the components one layer at a time. This process is faster than traditional methods, which are also unable to produce some of the complex parts required for the design.
