Updates Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV)

[RGClark]

I like this proposal because it will make it easier to transition an expendable vehicle to a reusable one without having to add the weight of wings.


Bob Clark

 

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Parabolic Arc: MT Aerospace to Manufacture Elements of ESA’s IXV Reentry Vehicle:

OHB PR — MT Aerospace received an important follow-up order to manufacture ceramic compound body flaps and heat shield components for the European IXV reentry vehicle: after completion of the development phase and successful Critical Design Review, Thales Alenia Space Italia, as prime contractor, and the Augsburg, Germany based company signed a contract for the qualification and manufacture of the IXV vehicle’s flight hardware. IXV will be launched into space in 2014 to test reentry technologies for future space applications.

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Parabolic Arc: ASI, JAXA Discuss Cooperation on Re-entry Vehicle Tech

 

[N_Molson]

I like this proposal because it will make it easier to transition an expendable vehicle to a reusable one without having to add the weight of wings.

The way I understand it, it's more a benchmark for advanced ceramic materials that could be used on a future manned version of the ATV (CTV). It's a good thing to master the re-entry technologies before sending people into space. :lol:

 

[ED_4]

Don't this thing look like a giant shoe that's been turned into a space faring vehicle? :blink: I mean looking at it from the front that's what it reminds me of.

 

[Loru]

Don't this thing look like a giant shoe that's been turned into a space faring vehicle? :blink: I mean looking at it from the front that's what it reminds me of.

Excellent comercial potential.

"Just do it (IN SPACE!) - Nike ^(TM) Crew Entry Vehicle"

 

[orb]

Parabolic Arc: Curtiss-Wright Wins Deal for ESA IXV Re-entry System:

CHARLOTTE, NC (CWC PR) – Curtiss-Wright Controls, Inc. today announced that it has received a contract from Alenia Aermacchi S.p.A. to supply rugged data acquisition subsystems for use in the Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV). Under the contract, Curtiss-Wright Controls will supply Alenia Aermacchi with its Acra KAM-500, Acra PCM recorder and Acra network switch for the re-entry vehicle data handling and telemetry subsystem. The Curtiss-Wright Controls Avionics & Electronics (CWC-AE) division’s data acquisition, networking and recording products will enable the IXV mission to acquire data to test new re-entry vehicle technologies.

The contract for the design and implementation phases of the program is valued at $3 million. Shipments of qualified spaceflight hardware for the IXV mission will be completed in 2012. The IXV industrial team is developing proposals for follow on missions that utilize a fully re-useable variant of the IXV.

“We are very pleased that Alenia Aermacchi selected our rugged, mission-critical data acquisition and recording technology for use in this exciting new low-Earth orbiting re-entry vehicle,” said David Adams, Co-Chief Operating Officer of Curtiss-Wright Corporation. “The use of our products on the IXV represents the first adoption of a cost-effective high performance commercial off the shelf (COTS) Ethernet network solution for a re-entry vehicle space mission by the European Space Agency.”

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[TMac3000]

Mark my words, gentlemen: SSTO is coming, and when it gets here, it will be a giant bucket of cheap and awesome:thumbup:

 

[Alfastar]

Mark my words, gentlemen: SSTO is coming, and when it gets here, it will be a giant bucket of cheap and awesome:thumbup:

Was that not also the first comments about the now canceled X-33?

 

[TMac3000]

I haven't check the history, on that. I'm sure you're right. But I did say it would be cheap and awesome, not easy or fast

 

[N_Molson]

Mark my words, gentlemen: SSTO is coming, and when it gets here, it will be a giant bucket of cheap and awesome

I hardly see the relationship with an SSTO... In fact, this vehicle is somewhere between a capsule and the Space Shuttle (which was also "fully reusable")... It can't go anywhere without a rocket under it.

 

[TMac3000]

It makes a very good test-bed for the concept

 

[Codz]

It makes a very good test-bed for the concept

How? It is entirely dependant on a separate launch vehicle.

 

[TMac3000]

True, but it's demonstrating the ability of a lifting-body winged vehicle to withstand reentry. Already done by the space shuttle, and a bit backwards for a testing process, but surely very important for a space plane. The next thing I'd like to see them show off would be an engine with sufficient ISP and thrust to at least reach a suborbital trajectory without staging.

 

[Unstung]

The next thing I'd like to see them show off would be an engine with sufficient ISP and thrust to at least reach a suborbital trajectory without staging.

That is something more like Skylon.

 

[orb]

ESA: ESA’s IXV reentry vehicle prepares for soft landing:

9 November 2012

Europe’s IXV Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle is completing a series of descent and landing tests, including a full-scale splashdown planned for early next year, allowing the mission to move ahead towards launch in 2014.

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Click on images to enlarge​

Europe’s IXV Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle is completing a series of descent and landing tests allowing the mission to move ahead towards launch in 2014. The parachute qualification test was completed in June 2012, verifying the behaviour of the complex subsystem, including its multiple stages.​

This image shows a second prototype integrating the subsystem, dropped from a plane at an altitude of 5.7 km and landing safely in the Arizona desert.​

Credits: Pioneer Aerospace​

Europe’s IXV Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle is completing a series tests allowing the mission to move ahead towards launch in 2014.​

Flight testing of the descent and landing system is planned for the first quarter of 2013. It aims to verify the behaviour of the complete descent and landing system chain, ensuring the recovery of the vehicle.​

A full-scale prototype is undergoing integration at Italy’s CIRA research centre, including flight hardware and software. It will be dropped from a helicopter at an altitude of 3 km, splashing down in the Mediterranean Sea in the PISQ test range off the coast of Sardinia.​

Credits: CIRA​

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Parabolic Arc: ESA’s IXV Re-entry Vehicle Undergoes Testing

 

[Alfastar]

Hope that the IXV leads to a European spaceplane, and not become that it become only a one-time launched test-vehicle for show.

 

[Notebook]

Europe's IXV (Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle

I thought we were up to the fourteenth version, seems not:

successful "drop test" has been conducted on Europe's experimental re-entry vehicle, the IXV.
A 1:1 scale model was released from an altitude of 3km by a helicopter, and then descended to a splashdown in the Mediterranean on a parachute.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22984738

 

[Pipcard]

I just noticed the similarities between the IXV and Japan's HYFLEX (HYpersonic FLight EXperiment).

It was an unmanned lifting body test vehicle with two body flaps, launched by a solid-fuel rocket on a suborbital trajectory leading to re-entry and a splashdown in the ocean.

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

Time for bumping! IXV, one member of the "three re-entries and a boost-back" series uncovering over the next 3 months, is now at French Guiana for preparation for its baptism of fire on November 18, lifting off at 12:00 UTC and re-entering the atmosphere about an hour later over the Pacific Ocean. The fourth Vega rocket, which will boost it to near orbital velocity, has just been completed. :tiphat:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TsXUJ-Ts2Y"]Shaking ESA's IXV spaceplane[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CiY5E24NLQ"]IXV separation test[/ame]