11 JUN. 2009
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The Expert reentry vehicle is a flight testbed aiming to obtain aerothermodynamic (ATD) flight data to validate design tools, ground test facilities and verification techniques. The design and verification of future atmospheric missions will benefit significantly from flight validation of ATD methods, reducing uncertainties and improving reliability.
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Expert during reentry
Expert's mission is a suborbital ballistic reentry flight. It will be launched from a Russian submarine on a Volna rocket and will land on the Kamchatka Peninsula. The initial reentry velocity is 5 km/s, with a flight path angle of -5.5 at an altitude of 100 km.
The entry parameters have been chosen in order to correlate the flight measurements with the conditions simulated by ground facilities available in Europe, including plasma wind tunnels such as the Scirocco in Italy and Plasmatron in Belgium. This will allow validation of the ATD physical models with real flight conditions and correlation of ground testing facilities.
The top level mission objectives are:
To obtain flight data associated with critical ATD phenomena, such as boundary layer transition, gas surface and shock layer interactions, real-gas effects and plasma chemical composition
To reduce design margin and uncertainties using in-flight measured data to validate numerical database, computer fluid dynamic tools and to correlate ground test results
To develop engineering technologies and advanced materials for thermal protection system, and experiment with new instruments and advance sensors for ATD measurements techniques
To gain engineering knowhow within European industry on the development of reentry and transportation systems, increasing the Technological Readiness Level of these technologies.
For further information, contact:
Jose Gavira
Expert Project Manager
Jose.Gavira.Izquierdo@esa.int
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Development Contract Signature
On 20 July, ESA will sign a contract with Thales Alenia Space Italy for the development of the European Experimental Reentry Testbed (Expert).
Launcher Contract Signature
The launch operations and vehicle recovery contract for ESA’s European Experimental Re-entry Testbed (Expert) was signed on 2 December in Moscow, Russia, between ESA and the Russian Makeyev State Rocket Centre. The contract was signed by ESA’s Director of Human Spaceflight Simonetta Di Pippo and Makeyev State Rocket Centre’s Deputy General Director for Economics and Finance, Sergey Glazyrin.
Expert’s return ticket to space
Getting to space is difficult, and coming back is just as hard. ESA will test the science and technology of reentry by sending the new Expert experimental vehicle on a fast and fiery return trip to space next year.
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