IXV

ESA will launch its Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV) mission into the space and back to Earth to test the technologies that will govern the future automated re-entry systems.

To be launched tomorrow on a Vega rocket VV04 from Kourou, French Guiana, the wingless plane will re-enter the Earth’s orbit after ascending to a maximum altitude of 420km.

Vega will separate the IXV at about 340km after 18 minutes into the journey.

During its re-entry, the IXV will collect data from a large number of conventional and advanced sensors.

ESA has been developing the IXV to meet Europe’s need for flight experience with reentry systems and technologies.

A part of ESA’s Future Launchers Preparatory Programme (FLPP), the concept of IXV was developed in 2005.

Originally scheduled to be launched in November last year, the mission was postponed to conduct additional analyses of the Vega flight trajectory.

"The entire mission will be completed in around 100 minutes from launch."

After its ascent into space, the plane will re-enter at a speed of 27,000km/h (7.5km/s) creating the same conditions as those for a vehicle returning from low-orbit.

Before descending into the Pacific Ocean, IXV will navigate through the atmosphere within its reentry corridor. The speed of the vehicle during its descent will be controlled by a multistage parachute.

The entire mission will be completed in around 100 minutes from launch.

The fully autonomous IXV will be monitored from its mission control centre at the Advanced Logistics Technology Engineering Centre in Turin, Italy. Two ground stations in Africa will track the signals from the vehicle.

The plane will be recovered by the recovery ship Nos Aries.

Image: The IXV mission will take 100 minutes to complete. Photo: courtesy of ESA.