IXV mission recap

IXV was injected into a suborbital path by a Vega rocket launched from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on 11 February 2015. IXV separated from Vega at an altitude of 340 km. It attained an altitude of around 412 km, allowing it to reach a speed of 7.5 km/s when reentering the atmosphere at an altitude of 120 km – fully representative of any return mission from low orbit. It collected a large amount of data during its hypersonic and supersonic flight, while being controlled by thrusters and aerodynamic flaps.

The craft then deployed a parachute to slow its descent for a safe splashdown in the Pacific Ocean to await recovery and analysis.

The complete mission lasted for approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes.

• Reusable launchers stages (lower and upper),

• Robotic exploration (for example, sample return from Mars or asteroid),

• Servicing of orbital infrastructures (for example, International Space Station),

• Servicing of future generation satellites (for example, in-orbit refuelling or disposal),

• Microgravity experiments (for example, optimum time/cost ratio),

• Earth sciences (for example, high-altitude atmospheric research),

• Earth observation (for example, crisis monitoring).