Research & Development World

  • R&D World Home
  • Topics
    • Aerospace
    • Automotive
    • Biotech
    • Careers
    • Chemistry
    • Environment
    • Energy
    • Life Science
    • Material Science
    • R&D Management
    • Physics
  • Technology
    • 3D Printing
    • A.I./Robotics
    • Software
    • Battery Technology
    • Controlled Environments
      • Cleanrooms
      • Graphene
      • Lasers
      • Regulations/Standards
      • Sensors
    • Imaging
    • Nanotechnology
    • Scientific Computing
      • Big Data
      • HPC/Supercomputing
      • Informatics
      • Security
    • Semiconductors
  • R&D Market Pulse
  • R&D 100
    • Call for Nominations: The 2025 R&D 100 Awards
    • R&D 100 Awards Event
    • R&D 100 Submissions
    • Winner Archive
    • Explore the 2024 R&D 100 award winners and finalists
  • Resources
    • Research Reports
    • Digital Issues
    • Educational Assets
    • R&D Index
    • Subscribe
    • Video
    • Webinars
  • Global Funding Forecast
  • Top Labs
  • Advertise
  • SUBSCRIBE

What’s New about Europe’s Reentry Mission?

By R&D Editors | February 6, 2015

Vega VV04 fully assembled in its mobile gantry. Courtesy of M. Pedoussaut, ESAESA’s experimental spaceplane, poised for liftoff on Vega, is set to showcase the latest technologies and critical systems to extend Europe’s capability for space exploration.

In a world first, Europe will launch and land an unmanned spaceplane that has no wings but instead features an aerodynamic shape that produces the lift to fly through the atmosphere. Flaps and thrusters will autonomously steer it back to a splashdown at a precise point in the Pacific Ocean.

Most of our reentry knowledge comes from capsules and winged bodies developed in Russia and the US, and we have come a long way since ESA’s first experiments with the conical Atmospheric Reentry Demonstrator, or ARD, flown in 1998.

When ESA’s Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle, or IXV, descends into Earth’s atmosphere it will be travelling at 7.5 km/s — typical of a mission from low orbit.

Friction with the atmosphere will slow the craft but if the angle of entry is too steep the craft will burn up. If the angle is too shallow, IXV cannot reach the required landing point.

As with all atmospheric entries, accurate guidance, navigation and control is everything. IXV must come in at the right angle and keep within a ‘reentry corridor.’

IXV’s sophisticated guidance, navigation and control system will use the body’s lifting shape, two flaps and four thrusters to navigate through the atmosphere in a way to withstand the pressures and friction while heading to the landing point.

The thrusters and flaps will work together to change IXV’s flight attitude — an important advance on ARD’s thrusters only.

A new generation of large and advanced thermal protection panels will shield IXV from temperatures reaching around 1700ºC on reentry.

The black panels that cover the underside are made from high-performance carbon fibers woven into a ceramic matrix pattern for heat resistance and strength.

The flow of heat across these panels will be mapped for the first time by an infrared camera and 300 sensors spanning the spacecraft from nose to flaps. The panels are much larger than the alternative glued tiles.

ESA’s experimental vehicle will shape future technological development by offering a wealth of precious data that will boost reentry research around Europe. There are just some things that cannot be tested in the same way in laboratories.

IXV represents the industrial, technological and scientific expertise of a consortium of around 40 industries, research centers and universities, mainly in Italy, France, Spain, Switzerland, Belgium, Ireland and Portugal, with support coming from Germany and the Netherlands.

  • Targeted launch date: February 11, 2015
  • IXV Fact Sheet: http://esamultimedia.esa.int/docs/launchers/IXV_factsheet20150123.pdf

Related Articles Read More >

Satellite data sheds light on wetland health in cloud-covered regions
Alice & Bob outlines roadmap to 100 logical qubits by 2030
Idemitsu expands partnership with Enthought to accelerate battery material innovation
top 25 AI patent winners of 2024
From NVIDIA to SAP: How 25 global AI patent leaders fared in 2024
rd newsletter
EXPAND YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND STAY CONNECTED
Get the latest info on technologies, trends, and strategies in Research & Development.
RD 25 Power Index

R&D World Digital Issues

Fall 2024 issue

Browse the most current issue of R&D World and back issues in an easy to use high quality format. Clip, share and download with the leading R&D magazine today.

Research & Development World
  • Subscribe to R&D World Magazine
  • Enews Sign Up
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Drug Discovery & Development
  • Pharmaceutical Processing
  • Global Funding Forecast

Copyright © 2025 WTWH Media LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media
Privacy Policy | Advertising | About Us

Search R&D World

  • R&D World Home
  • Topics
    • Aerospace
    • Automotive
    • Biotech
    • Careers
    • Chemistry
    • Environment
    • Energy
    • Life Science
    • Material Science
    • R&D Management
    • Physics
  • Technology
    • 3D Printing
    • A.I./Robotics
    • Software
    • Battery Technology
    • Controlled Environments
      • Cleanrooms
      • Graphene
      • Lasers
      • Regulations/Standards
      • Sensors
    • Imaging
    • Nanotechnology
    • Scientific Computing
      • Big Data
      • HPC/Supercomputing
      • Informatics
      • Security
    • Semiconductors
  • R&D Market Pulse
  • R&D 100
    • Call for Nominations: The 2025 R&D 100 Awards
    • R&D 100 Awards Event
    • R&D 100 Submissions
    • Winner Archive
    • Explore the 2024 R&D 100 award winners and finalists
  • Resources
    • Research Reports
    • Digital Issues
    • Educational Assets
    • R&D Index
    • Subscribe
    • Video
    • Webinars
  • Global Funding Forecast
  • Top Labs
  • Advertise
  • SUBSCRIBE