Tag: IXV

  • Engineers to assess reusability of Europe’s wingless space plane

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    Europe’s IXV re-entry demonstrator is lifted out of the Pacific Ocean onto the Nos Aries recovery ship after Wednesday’s test flight. Credit: ESA–Tommaso Javidi, 2015 Back on Earth after a whirlwind journey 20,000 miles around the world, an experimental re-entry demonstrator is on the way to Europe for post-flight inspections aimed at gathering design inputs…

  • Fire in the hole! Vega fires away from jungle spaceport

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    A solid-fueled Vega launcher zipped away from its launch pad in Kourou, French Guiana, with Europe’s IXV mission Wednesday, boosting a miniature lifting body spacecraft on a globe-spanning test flight to validate technologies for future space transportation systems. The fourth flight of the European Vega rocket — and its first in full daylight — blasted…

  • Video: Europe’s IXV prepared for launch

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    This time lapse video chronicles several days of activity to ready the European Space Agency’s sleek re-entry demonstrator for flight. The Intermediate Experimental Vehicle, or IXV, will blast off from a tropical launch pad in French Guiana, ride a Vega rocket to nearly 17,000 mph (7.5 kilometers per second), then steer itself back to Earth…

  • Video: Europe’s IXV prepared for launch

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    This time lapse video chronicles several days of activity to ready the European Space Agency’s sleek re-entry demonstrator for flight. The Intermediate Experimental Vehicle, or IXV, will blast off from a tropical launch pad in French Guiana, ride a Vega rocket to nearly 17,000 mph (7.5 kilometers per second), then steer itself back to Earth…

  • European space plane flies around the world on test flight

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    Artist’s concept of the Intermediate Experimental Vehicle. Credit: ESA Europe launched a sleek new space plane more than 250 miles above Earth on Wednesday, testing its maneuverability, on-board guidance systems, and a next-generation heat shield as the experimental vehicle glided through the atmosphere toward a pinpoint splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. The test flight marked…

  • European space plane flies around the world on test flight

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    Artist’s concept of the Intermediate Experimental Vehicle. Credit: ESA Europe launched a sleek new space plane more than 250 miles above Earth on Wednesday, testing its maneuverability, on-board guidance systems, and a next-generation heat shield as the experimental vehicle glided through the atmosphere toward a pinpoint splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. The test flight marked…

  • Flight timeline for ESA’s re-entry demonstrator

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    Photo credit: ESA-J.Huart An automobile-sized prototype space plane is ready for an around-the-world test flight to demonstrate technologies to fly on a future orbital space plane, reusable rocket stages, and interplanetary sample return probes. The $170 million Intermediate Experimental Vehicle is set for launch aboard a Vega rocket from the Guiana Space Center, a European-run…

  • ESA re-entry vehicle could pave way for reusable launcher

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    Artist’s concept of the Intermediate Experimental Vehicle. Credit: ESA European engineers are eager to test an experimental re-entry demonstrator Wednesday to validate technologies for future robotic exploration probes, winged space planes, and reusable rocket boosters. The European Space Agency’s Intermediate Experimental Vehicle — about the size of a family car — will take off at…

  • Live coverage: European mini-shuttle back on Earth

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    Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Vega rocket with the European Space Agency’s Intermediate Experimental Vehicle. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.

  • Photos: ESA re-entry testbed prepared for liftoff

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    Engineers have put the finishing touches on a prototype spaceship representing a leap in European space technology, aiming for liftoff Feb. 11 for a flight 260 miles into space and back to Earth for a pinpoint splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. The Intermediate Experimental Vehicle will blast off aboard a lightweight European Vega launcher from…