ESA’s Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV) has been fueled and “topped off”

The loading of IXV (Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle)’s hydrazine maneuvering propellant was performed inside the S5B hall at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.

Credit: Arianespace, ESA

ESA’s IXV (Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle) has been “topped off” at the Spaceport in French Guiana as preparations continue for its launch with Vega’s year-opening mission on February 11.

Loading of IXV’s hydrazine maneuvering propellant was performed in the S5B hall of the Spaceport’s large S5 payload preparation facility.

Thales Alenia Space engineers working on the IXV.

Credit: Thales Alenia Space, ESA

IXV (Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle) was built for the European Space Agency (ESA) by Thales Alenia Space, and is designed to flight test technologies and critical systems for Europe’s future automated reentry systems as they return from low Earth orbit.

Artist impression of ESA's Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV).

Credit: ESA

The unmanned IXV is to be deployed into a suborbital trajectory by Vega at a 320-km. altitude.

After IXV coasts up to an altitude of 420 km., it will begin the reentry phase, recording data from a large number of conventional and advanced sensors.

The IXV Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle is being prepared for launch at Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

Credit: ESA

The entry speed of 7.5 km. per second creates the same conditions as those for a vehicle returning from low Earth orbit, with IXV subsequently descending via parachutes for a safe splashdown in the Pacific Ocean approximately 100 minutes after liftoff.

Vega’s February 11 mission will mark the lightweight launcher’s second flight within the European Space Agency-managed VERTA (Vega Research and Technology Accompaniment) program to showcase this vehicle's flexibility.

The industrial prime contractor for Vega is ELV S.p.A., a company created by Avio and the Italian Space Agency (ASI) in December 2000.

Engineers forging ahead with the final tests on ESA’s Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle, IXV.

Credit: ESA

The IXV (Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle) is being prepared for launch at Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

IXV will be launched 320 km into space on top of a Vega  rocket, climbing up to 420 km before beginning a long glide back through the atmosphere.

In the process, IXV will gather data on reentry conditions to help guide the design of future spaceplanes. 

ESA IXV Spaceplane set for February launch

Arianespace has put the launch of its IXV spaceplane back on the schedule, announcing a February 2015 date for the flight.

The launch was recently postponed, but the organisation now says it's agreed with French space agency CNES that the Intermedia eXperimental Vehicle (IXV), will ascend to space on February 11 2015.

The IXV was delivered to the French Guiana spaceport in September, but hopes for a November 2014 launch were dashed in October when the European Space Agency (ESA) announced it would be postponed.

At that time, the ESA said it needed more time to analyse the flight trajectory of the Vega launcher that will hoist the space plane, because instead of the usual polar trajectory the launcher uses, the IXV test will head eastwards.

Since an easterly launch is “unprecedented” for Vega, the ESA said it wanted to generate more information on the performance of the launch vehicle, “should an anomaly occur after liftoff”.

Vega will carry the IXV to 320 km, after which it will rise under its own power to 420 km.

It will reach a speed of 7.5 km/second before re-entry, which the agency says is “fully representative of any mission from low orbit”.

The ultimate aim for the two-tonne IXV is to develop the technologies needed to launch cargoes to targets like the ISS in a reusable autonomous craft. Lift is generated not by wings but by the body design, with a couple of flaps controlling its flight.

The IXV will land in the Pacific Ocean, but the ESA ultimately wants to develop a craft that can land on conventional runways

ESA IXV spaceplane set for test flight

ESA IXV Spaceplane weighs almost two tonnes, close to Vega's lifting capacity, and will be a tight fit inside the vehicle's fairing.

Credit: ESA

All eyes are on ESA's IXV spaceplane to showcase reentry technologies after its unconventional launch on a Vega rocket this November.

Instead of heading north into a polar orbit, as on previous flights, Vega will head eastwards to release the spaceplane into a suborbital path reaching all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

ESA's IXV spaceplane being unboxed.

Credit: ESA

Engineers are forging ahead with the final tests on ESA's Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle, IXV, to check that it can withstand the demanding conditions from liftoff to separation from Vega.

Launched in early November, IXV will flight test the technologies and critical systems for Europe's future automated reentry vehicles returning from low orbit.

This is a first for Europe and those working in the field are keeping a close watch.

ESA's IXV spaceplane undergoing re-entry recovery test.

Credit: ESA

The research and industrial community have the chance to use this information for progress in atmospheric reentry, oriented towards transportation systems with applications in exploration, science, Earth observation, microgravity and clean space.

Jose Longo, ESA's head of aerothermodynamics, said, "The technical advancements that have been made since the first experiments with our Atmospheric Reentry Demonstrator in 1996 are huge."


"This is the first flight demonstration of features such as highly advanced thermal structures: thrusters and flaps that are part of the control system, and the 300 sensors and infrared camera to map the heating all along the spacecraft from the nose to the flaps. These things just cannot be tested in the same way in laboratories."

"The fact that ESA's IXV will be launched on Vega makes this a fully European mission," noted Stefano Bianchi, ESA's head of launchers development.

IXV weighs almost two tonnes, close to Vega's lifting capacity, and will be a tight fit inside the vehicle's fairing.

"In this mission we are not only monitoring the spacecraft all along its autonomous flight, but also tracking its progress back to Earth to a particular spot, this is different to what we are used to," said Giorgio Tumino, ESA's IXV project manager.

When IXV splashes down in the Pacific at the end of its mission it will be recovered by ship and returned to Europe for detailed analysis to assess the performance and condition of the internal and external structures.

The actual performance will be compared with predictions to improve computer modelling of the materials used and the spaceplane's design.

Such is the enthusiasm and interest of industry in the opportunities associated with reentry technologies that the third IXV workshop in ESA's Technical Centre, ESTEC, in Noordwijk, the Netherlands was packed out last week.

"It is very encouraging to see such interest in this programme," added Giorgio. "Follow-up activities to this mission will build on the current industrial organisation and associated technologies will provide opportunities to newcomers."