European Space Agency , owners = , headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France , coordinates = , spaceport = Guiana Space Centre , seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png , seal_size = 130px , image = Views in the Main Control Room (120 ...

suborbital A sub-orbital spaceflight is a spaceflight in which the spacecraft reaches outer space, but its trajectory intersects the atmosphere or surface of the gravitating body from which it was launched, so that it will not complete one orbital ...

re-entry Atmospheric entry is the movement of an object from outer space into and through the gases of an atmosphere of a planet, dwarf planet, or natural satellite. There are two main types of atmospheric entry: ''uncontrolled entry'', such as the entr ...

lifting body A lifting body is a fixed-wing aircraft or spacecraft configuration in which the body itself produces lift. In contrast to a flying wing, which is a wing with minimal or no conventional fuselage, a lifting body can be thought of as a fuselage ...

Future Launchers Preparatory Programme The Future Launchers Preparatory Programme (FLPP) is a technology development and maturation programme of the European Space Agency (ESA). It develops technologies for the application in future European launch vehicles (launchers) and in upgrades t ...

spaceplane A spaceplane is a vehicle that can fly and glide like an aircraft in Earth's atmosphere and maneuver like a spacecraft in outer space. To do so, spaceplanes must incorporate features of both aircraft and spacecraft. Orbital spaceplane ...

Programme for Reusable In-orbit Demonstrator in Europe The Programme for Reusable In-orbit Demonstrator in Europe (PRIDE) is an Italian Space Agency programme that aims to develop a reusable robotic spaceplane named Space Rider in collaboration with the European Space Agency. The PRIDE programme was ...

Space Rider The Space Rider (Space Reusable Integrated Demonstrator for Europe Return) is a planned uncrewed orbital lifting body spaceplane aiming to provide the European Space Agency (ESA) with affordable and routine access to space.Space Rider PRIDE

Italian Aerospace Research Centre The Italian Aerospace Research Centre (Centro Italiano Ricerche Aerospaziali - CIRA) is a consortium established in July 1984 to promote the growth and success of the aerospace industry in Italy (its head-office is in Capua). The majority of CIRA ...

. Accessed: 15 November 2018. On 11 February 2015, the IXV conducted its first 100-minute suborbital space flight, successfully completing its mission upon landing intact on the surface of the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the conti ...

. The vehicle is the first ever

lifting body A lifting body is a fixed-wing aircraft or spacecraft configuration in which the body itself produces lift. In contrast to a flying wing, which is a wing with minimal or no conventional fuselage, a lifting body can be thought of as a fuselage ...

to perform full atmospheric reentry from orbital speed. Past missions have flight tested either winged bodies, which are highly controllable but also very complex and costly, or capsules, which are difficult to control but offer less complexity and lower cost.

Development

Background

During the 1980s and 1990s, there was significant international interest in the development of reusable launch platforms and

reusable spacecraft A reusable spacecraft is a class of spacecraft that have been designed with repeated launch, orbit, deorbit and atmospheric reentry in mind. This contrasts with conventional spacecraft which are designed to be expended (thrown away, allowed to bu ...

, particularly in respect to

spaceplane A spaceplane is a vehicle that can fly and glide like an aircraft in Earth's atmosphere and maneuver like a spacecraft in outer space. To do so, spaceplanes must incorporate features of both aircraft and spacecraft. Orbital spaceplane ...

s, perhaps the most high-profile examples of these being the American

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program n ...

and

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

Buran programmes. The national space agencies of European nations, such as France's

Centre National d'Études Spatiales The (CNES; French: ''Centre national d'études spatiales'') is the French government space agency (administratively, a "public administration with industrial and commercial purpose"). Its headquarters are located in central Paris and it is und ...

(CNES) and Germany's

German Aerospace Center The German Aerospace Center (german: Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V., abbreviated DLR, literally ''German Center for Air- and Space-flight'') is the national center for aerospace, energy and transportation research of Germany ...

(DLR), worked on their own designs during this era, the most prominent of these to emerge being the

Hermes Hermes (; grc-gre, Ἑρμῆς) is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and mythology. Hermes is considered the herald of the gods. He is also considered the protector of human heralds, travellers, thieves, merchants, and orat ...

spaceplane. Development of the Hermes programme, which was backed by the

European Space Agency , owners = , headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France , coordinates = , spaceport = Guiana Space Centre , seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png , seal_size = 130px , image = Views in the Main Control Room (120 ...

(ESA) for several years, was ultimately terminated in 1992 prior to any flights being performed in favour of a partnership arrangement with the Russian Aviation and Space Agency (RKA) to use the existing

Soyuz spacecraft Soyuz () is a series of spacecraft which has been in service since the 1960s, having made more than 140 flights. It was designed for the Soviet space program by the Korolev Design Bureau (now Energia). The Soyuz succeeded the Voskhod spacecr ...

instead. While work on the development of the Hermes vehicle was cancelled during the early 1990s, the ESA maintained its strategic long-term objective to indigenously develop and eventually deploy similar reusable space vehicles. Accordingly, in support of this goal, the ESA embarked upon a series of design studies on different experimental vehicle concepts as well as to refine and improve technologies deemed critical to future reentry vehicles.Tumino, Giorgio and Yves Gerard
"ESA Bulletin 128 - IXV: the Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle."
''ESA'', November 2006. In order to test and further develop the technologies and concepts produced by these studies, there were clear needs to accumulate practical flight experience with reentry systems, as well as to maintain and expand upon international cooperation in the fields of space transportation, exploration, and science. Out of these desires emerged the

Future Launchers Preparatory Programme The Future Launchers Preparatory Programme (FLPP) is a technology development and maturation programme of the European Space Agency (ESA). It develops technologies for the application in future European launch vehicles (launchers) and in upgrades t ...

(FLPP), an ESA-headed initiative conceived and championed by a number of its member states, which provided a framework for addressing the challenges and development of the technology associated with reentry vehicles. It was recognised that, in order for significant progress to be made, FLPP would require the production and testing of a prototype reentry vehicle that drew on their existing research, technologies, and designs. By adopting a step-by-step approach using a series of test vehicles prior to the development of a wider series of production vehicles, this approach was seen to reduce the risk and to allow for the integration of progressively more sophisticated developments from the early relatively-low-cost missions. In line with this determination, during early 2005, the Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV) project was formally initiated by the

Italian Space Agency The Italian Space Agency ( it, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana; ASI) is a government agency established in 1988 to fund, regulate and coordinate space exploration activities in Italy. The agency cooperates with numerous national and international enti ...

and the

Italian Aerospace Research Centre The Italian Aerospace Research Centre (Centro Italiano Ricerche Aerospaziali - CIRA) is a consortium established in July 1984 to promote the growth and success of the aerospace industry in Italy (its head-office is in Capua). The majority of CIRA ...

under an Italian programme named PRIDE (

Programme for Reusable In-orbit Demonstrator in Europe The Programme for Reusable In-orbit Demonstrator in Europe (PRIDE) is an Italian Space Agency programme that aims to develop a reusable robotic spaceplane named Space Rider in collaboration with the European Space Agency. The PRIDE programme was ...

) Their main industrial contractor was Next Generation Launcher Prime SpA (NGLP) in Italy. The latter organisation is a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...

entity comprising two major European aerospace companies,

Astrium Astrium was an aerospace manufacturer subsidiary of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) that provided civil and military space systems and services from 2006 to 2013. In 2012, Astrium had a turnover of €5.8 billion and 1 ...

and

Finmeccanica Leonardo S.p.A., formerly Leonardo-Finmeccanica and originally Finmeccanica, is an Italian multinational company specialising in aerospace, defence and security. Headquartered in Rome, Italy, the company has 180 sites worldwide. It is the eighth ...

. The PRIDE programme had the support of various national space agencies, including the

European Space Research and Technology Centre The European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) is the European Space Agency's main technology development and test centre for spacecraft and space technology. It is situated in Noordwijk, South Holland, in the western Netherlands, al ...

,

Italian Space Agency The Italian Space Agency ( it, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana; ASI) is a government agency established in 1988 to fund, regulate and coordinate space exploration activities in Italy. The agency cooperates with numerous national and international enti ...

(ASI), French space agency

CNES The (CNES; French: ''Centre national d'études spatiales'') is the French government space agency (administratively, a "public administration with industrial and commercial purpose"). Its headquarters are located in central Paris and it is und ...

, and Germany's DLR; by November 2006, the IXV was supported by 11 Member States: Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. Of these, Italy emerged as the principal financial backer of the IXV programme.

Selection and pre-launch testing

The IXV project benefitted from and harnessed much of the research data and operational principles from many of the previously conducted studies, especially from the successful

Atmospheric Reentry Demonstrator The Advanced Reentry Demonstrator (ARD) was a European Space Agency (ESA) suborbital reentry vehicle. It was developed and operated for experimental purposes, specifically to validate the multiple reentry technologies integrated upon it and the veh ...

(ARD), which was test-flown during 1998. Early on, during the mission definition and design maturity stages of the project, thorough comparisons were conducted again between existing ESA and national concepts against shared criteria, aimed at evaluating the experiment requirements (technology and systems), programme requirements (technology readiness, development schedule and cost) and risk mitigation (feasibility, maturity, robustness, and growth potential). The selected baseline design, a slender lifting body configuration, drew primarily upon the CNES-led ''Pre-X'' the ESA's ARD vehicles. Development work quickly proceeded through the preliminary design definition phase, reaching a system requirements review by mid-2007. On 18 December 2009, the ESA announced the signing of a contract with

Thales Alenia Space Thales Alenia Space () is a Franco-Italian aerospace manufacturer. A joint venture between the French technology corporation Thales Group (67%) and Italian defense conglomerate Leonardo (33%), the company is the largest satellite manufactur ...

, valued at , to cover 18 months of preliminary IXV work. In 2011, the total estimated cost for the IXV project was reportedly . During late 2012, the IXV's subsonic parachute system was tested at the

Yuma Proving Ground Yuma Proving Ground (YPG) is a United States Army series of environmentally specific test centers with its Yuma Test Center being one of the largest military installations in the world. It is subordinate to the U.S. Army Test and Evaluation ...

in

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, United States. Shortly thereafter, a series of water impact tests were conducted at

Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche The National Research Council (Italian: ''Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, CNR'') is the largest research council in Italy. As a public organisation, its remit is to support scientific and technological research. Its headquarters are in Ro ...

's INSEAN research tank near Rome, Italy. On 21 June 2013, an IXV test vehicle was dropped from an altitude of in the

Salto di Quirra Salto di Quirra is a restricted weapons testing range and rocket launching site near Perdasdefogu on Sardinia. It is the largest military range in Italy, composed of 12000 hectares of land owned by the Italian Ministry of Defence and one of the ...

range off

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label= Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, aft ...

, Italy. The purpose of this test-drop was to validate the vehicle's water-landing system, including the subsonic parachute, flotation balloons, and beacon deployment. A small anomaly was encountered during the inflation of the balloons; however, all of the other systems performed as expected. Following the drop-test, the vehicle was retrieved for further analysis. On 23 June 2014, the recovery ship ''Nos Aries'' conducted a training exercise involving a single IXV test article off the coast of

Tuscany it, Toscano (man) it, Toscana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Citizenship , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = Italian , demogra ...

. During June 2014, the IXV test vehicle arrived at the

ESTEC The European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) is the European Space Agency's main technology development and test centre for spacecraft and space technology. It is situated in Noordwijk, South Holland, in the western Netherlands, al ...

Technical Centre in

Noordwijk Noordwijk () is a town and municipality in the west of the Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality covers an area of of which is water and had a population of in . On 1 January 2019, the former municipality of Noordwij ...

, The Netherlands, to undergo a test campaign to confirm its flight readiness in anticipation of a flight on a Vega rocket, which was by that point scheduled to occur during November of that year.

Design

The Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV) is a prototype unmanned reusable

spaceplane A spaceplane is a vehicle that can fly and glide like an aircraft in Earth's atmosphere and maneuver like a spacecraft in outer space. To do so, spaceplanes must incorporate features of both aircraft and spacecraft. Orbital spaceplane ...

—and the precursor of the next model called

Space Rider The Space Rider (Space Reusable Integrated Demonstrator for Europe Return) is a planned uncrewed orbital lifting body spaceplane aiming to provide the European Space Agency (ESA) with affordable and routine access to space. It possesses a

lifting body A lifting body is a fixed-wing aircraft or spacecraft configuration in which the body itself produces lift. In contrast to a flying wing, which is a wing with minimal or no conventional fuselage, a lifting body can be thought of as a fuselage ...

arrangement which lacks wings of any sort, resulting in a lift to drag ratio (L/D) of 0.7 during the reentry. The size and shape is balanced between the need to maximise internal volume to accommodate experimental payloads while keeping within the mass limits of the

Vega Vega is the brightest star in the northern constellation of Lyra. It has the Bayer designation α Lyrae, which is Latinised to Alpha Lyrae and abbreviated Alpha Lyr or α Lyr. This star is relatively close at only from the Sun, a ...

launcher and favourable

centre of gravity In physics, the center of mass of a distribution of mass in space (sometimes referred to as the balance point) is the unique point where the weighted relative position of the distributed mass sums to zero. This is the point to which a force may ...

. The vehicle purposefully includes several key technologies of interest to the ESA, including its thermal protection system and the presence of active aerodynamic control surfaces. Control and manoeuvrability of the IXV is provided by a combination of these aerodynamic surfaces (comprising a pair of movable flaps) and thrusters throughout its full flight regime, which includes flying at

hypersonic In aerodynamics, a hypersonic speed is one that exceeds 5 times the speed of sound, often stated as starting at speeds of Mach 5 and above. The precise Mach number at which a craft can be said to be flying at hypersonic speed varies, since ind ...

speeds. A key role for the IXV is the gaining of data and experience in aerodynamically controlled reentry, which has been claimed by the ESA to represent significant advances on earlier ballistic and quasi-ballistic techniques previously employed. Throughout each mission, representative reentry performance data is recorded in order to investigate aerothermodynamic phenomena and to validate system design tools and ground verification methods, which in turn supports future design efforts. Reentry is accomplished in a nose-high attitude, similar to the

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedin ...

-operated

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program n ...

; during this phase of flight, manoeuvring of the spaceplane is accomplished by rolling out-of-plane and then lifting in that direction, akin to a conventional aircraft. Landing is accomplished by an arrangement of

parachute A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag or, in a ram-air parachute, aerodynamic lift. A major application is to support people, for recreation or as a safety device for aviators, w ...

s, which are ejected during the descent through the top of the vehicle; additionally, seconds prior to landing, a series of

airbag An airbag is a vehicle occupant-restraint system using a bag designed to inflate extremely quickly, then quickly deflate during a collision. It consists of the airbag cushion, a flexible fabric bag, an inflation module, and an impact sensor. T ...

s are inflated to soften the landing. Another key ESA objective for the IXV was the verification of both its structure and its advanced thermal protection measures, specifically their performance during the challenging conditions present during reentry. The underside is covered by

ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain, ...

thermal protection panels composed of a blend of

carbon fiber Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers (Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon compo ...

and

silicon carbide Silicon carbide (SiC), also known as carborundum (), is a hard chemical compound containing silicon and carbon. A semiconductor, it occurs in nature as the extremely rare mineral moissanite, but has been mass-produced as a powder and crystal s ...

directly fixed to the spaceplane's structure, while ablative materials comprising a

cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

and

silicon Silicon is a chemical element with the symbol Si and atomic number 14. It is a hard, brittle crystalline solid with a blue-grey metallic luster, and is a tetravalent metalloid and semiconductor. It is a member of group 14 in the periodic ...

-based

composite Composite or compositing may refer to: Materials * Composite material, a material that is made from several different substances ** Metal matrix composite, composed of metal and other parts ** Cermet, a composite of ceramic and metallic materials ...

material coat the vehicle's upper surfaces. The

airframe The mechanical structure of an aircraft is known as the airframe. This structure is typically considered to include the fuselage, undercarriage, empennage and wings, and excludes the propulsion system. Airframe design is a field of aerospa ...

was based on a traditional hot-structure/cold-structure arrangement, relying upon a combination of advanced ceramic and metallic assemblies, insulating materials, as well as the effective design of assorted attachments, junctions and seals; the role played by advanced navigation and control techniques was also deemed to be of high importance. The IXV is supported on-orbit by a separate manoeuvring and support module, which is largely similar to the Resource Module that had been intended for use by the cancelled

Hermes Hermes (; grc-gre, Ἑρμῆς) is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and mythology. Hermes is considered the herald of the gods. He is also considered the protector of human heralds, travellers, thieves, merchants, and orat ...

shuttle. The

avionics Avionics (a blend of ''aviation'' and ''electronics'') are the electronic systems used on aircraft. Avionic systems include communications, navigation, the display and management of multiple systems, and the hundreds of systems that are fit ...

of the IXV are controlled by a LEON2-FT microprocessor and are interconnected by a

MIL-STD-1553B MIL-STD-1553 is a military standard published by the United States Department of Defense that defines the mechanical, electrical, and functional characteristics of a serial data bus. It was originally designed as an avionic data bus for use with ...

serial bus. As an experimental vehicle primarily intended to gather data, various assorted sensors and monitoring equipment were present and operational throughout the full length of the flight in order to gather data to support the evaluation effort, including the verification of the vehicle's critical reentry technologies. The recorded data covered various elements of the IXV's flight, including its guidance, navigation, and control systems, such as Vehicle Model Identification (VMI) measurements for post-flight reconstruction of the spacecraft's dynamic behaviour and environment, as well as the mandatory core experiments regarding its reentry technologies. Additionally, the IXV will typically carry complementary passenger experiments which, while not having been directly necessary to its mission success, serve to increase the vehicle's return on investment; according to the ESA, in excess of 50 such proposals had been received from a mixture of European industries, research institutes and universities, many having benefits to future launcher programmes (such as potential additional methods for guidance, navigation, control, structural health monitoring, and thermal protection), space exploration, and scientific value. Throughout each mission,

telemetry Telemetry is the in situ collection of measurements or other data at remote points and their automatic transmission to receiving equipment (telecommunication) for monitoring. The word is derived from the Greek roots ''tele'', "remote", an ...

is broadcast to ground controllers to monitor the vehicle's progress; however, phenomenon such as the build-up of plasma around the spaceplane during its re-entry has been known to block radio signals.Clark, Stephen
"European space plane flies around the world on test flight ."
''spaceflightnow.com'', 11 February 2015. The IXV is the precursor of the next model named

Space Rider The Space Rider (Space Reusable Integrated Demonstrator for Europe Return) is a planned uncrewed orbital lifting body spaceplane aiming to provide the European Space Agency (ESA) with affordable and routine access to space.

mission. Having launched at 08:40am local time, the vehicle separated from the Vega launch vehicle at 333 km altitude and ascended to 412 km, after which it commenced a controlled descent towards beginning its

reentry Atmospheric entry is the movement of an object from outer space into and through the gases of an atmosphere of a planet, dwarf planet, or natural satellite. There are two main types of atmospheric entry: ''uncontrolled entry'', such as the ...

at 120 km altitude, travelling at a recorded speed of 7.5 km/s, identical to a typical re-entry path to be flown by

low Earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial objects in outer space are in LEO, with an altitude never m ...

(LEO) spacecraft. Following re-entry, the IXV glided over the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the conti ...

prior to the opening of its landing parachutes, which were deployed in order to slow down the craft's descent, having flown over 7300 km from the beginning of its reentry. The vehicle descended to the surface of the Pacific Ocean, where it was subsequently recovered by the ''Nos Aries'' ship; analysis of both the spacecraft itself and recorded mission data took place.

Jean-Jacques Dordain Jean-Jacques Dordain (born 14 April 1946) was Director General of the European Space Agency between 2003 and 2015. Graduating at École Centrale Paris in 1968, Dordain began his scientific career in the French Aerospace Research Agency (ONERA) ...

, then-director general of the ESA, stated of the mission: "It couldn't have been better, but the mission itself is not yet over... it will move the frontiers of knowledge further back concerning aerodynamics, thermal issues, and guidance and navigation of such a vehicle – this lifting body".

Future Plans

Following on from the completion of the reportedly 'flawless' test flight, ESA officials decided that an additional test flight should be performed during the 2019-2020 timeframe. During this mission, the IXV had been envisioned to land in a different manner, descending directly onto a runway instead of performing a

splashdown Splashdown is the method of landing a spacecraft by parachute in a body of water. It was used by crewed American space capsules prior to the Space Shuttle program, by SpaceX Dragon and Dragon 2 capsules and by NASA's Orion Multipurpose Crew ...

landing as before; this approach is to be achieved either via the installation of a

parafoil A parafoil is a nonrigid (textile) airfoil with an aerodynamic cell structure which is inflated by the wind. Ram-air inflation forces the parafoil into a classic wing cross-section. Parafoils are most commonly constructed out of ripstop nylon. ...

, or by the adoption of

landing gear Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for takeoff or landing. For aircraft it is generally needed for both. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, such as the Glenn L. Mart ...

. The planning for the second spaceflight was originally to begin during March 2015, while design work on the modified vehicle was to commence during mid 2015.

Transition to Space Rider

In the ESA December 2016 Science Budget funding was approved by the Ministerial Council for the next IXV flight in the form of the commercialised

Space Rider The Space Rider (Space Reusable Integrated Demonstrator for Europe Return) is a planned uncrewed orbital lifting body spaceplane aiming to provide the European Space Agency (ESA) with affordable and routine access to space.3 of internal space in the vehicle for a payload bay. The Space Rider is similar in operation to the US X-37B but half the X37's length and a fifth the X37's mass and payload capacity, which will make it the smallest and lightest spaceplane to ever fly. Payload doors will be opened on achieving orbit exposing instruments and experiments to space before being closed for landing. In December 2020, ESA signed contracts with co-prime contractors

Thales Alenia Space Thales Alenia Space () is a Franco-Italian aerospace manufacturer. A joint venture between the French technology corporation Thales Group (67%) and Italian defense conglomerate Leonardo (33%), the company is the largest satellite manufactur ...

and

Avio Avio S.p.A. is an Italian company operating in the aerospace sector with its head office in Colleferro near Rome, Italy. Founded in 1908, it is present in Italy and abroad with different commercial offices and 10 production sites. Avio operate ...

for delivery of the Space Rider flight model. The first flight is now scheduled in late 2023.

Specifications

Development

Background

Selection and pre-launch testing

Design

Future Plans

Transition to Space Rider

Specifications

See also