The European Space Agency’s Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV) completed its mission today at 15:20 UTC. The wingless plane was launched on a suborbital trajectory, then proceeded to descend back down to Earth in order to collect valuable data regarding re-entering Earth’s atmosphere.
The flight was launched from Kourou in French Guiana at 13:40 UTC (08:40 EST). The rocket, flying for only its fourth time, took the wingless plane onto a suborbital trajectory so that the required scientific objectives could be achieved. The four stage rocket left the launchpad at Kourou with amazing speed, and the separation and reigniting of stages was incredibly rapid.
The IXV reached a maximum height of around 420 kilometres, and coasted before beginning its descent back towards Earth. With an entry speed of 27,000 kph, the vehicle experienced the same conditions that a spacecraft from low Earth orbit would experience during re-entry.
The ESA hope to gain valuable knowledge thanks to this test flight, with data being taken throughout the re-entry process. The vehicle, aided with a variety of parachutes, splashed down in the Pacific Ocean around 100 minutes after lift-off, and was retrieved by a recovering ship, named Nos Aries.
“It couldn’t have been better” said Jean-Jacques Dordain, director general of ESA. He then mentioned that it is now time for the team to analyse all of the data collected throughout the flight.
The European Space Agency hope to follow up the IXV mission with another unmanned space plane project named PRIDE. The mission aims to deploy a number of satellites before returning to Earth for a runway landing. However, the date has yet to be set on when this mission will occur, but some suspect it will be around 2020.
The flight was launched from Kourou in French Guiana at 13:40 UTC (08:40 EST). The rocket, flying for only its fourth time, took the wingless plane onto a suborbital trajectory so that the required scientific objectives could be achieved. The four stage rocket left the launchpad at Kourou with amazing speed, and the separation and reigniting of stages was incredibly rapid.
The IXV reached a maximum height of around 420 kilometres, and coasted before beginning its descent back towards Earth. With an entry speed of 27,000 kph, the vehicle experienced the same conditions that a spacecraft from low Earth orbit would experience during re-entry.
The ESA hope to gain valuable knowledge thanks to this test flight, with data being taken throughout the re-entry process. The vehicle, aided with a variety of parachutes, splashed down in the Pacific Ocean around 100 minutes after lift-off, and was retrieved by a recovering ship, named Nos Aries.
“It couldn’t have been better” said Jean-Jacques Dordain, director general of ESA. He then mentioned that it is now time for the team to analyse all of the data collected throughout the flight.
The European Space Agency hope to follow up the IXV mission with another unmanned space plane project named PRIDE. The mission aims to deploy a number of satellites before returning to Earth for a runway landing. However, the date has yet to be set on when this mission will occur, but some suspect it will be around 2020.