Here’s a replay of the press conference at the Paris Air Show on the first results from ESA’s Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV). After a perfect mission on 11 February 2015, IXV travelled from the splashdown site in the Pacific Ocean just west of the Galapagos islands, to Le Bourget. In the five months since the mission, the initial analysis has been completed and the team unveiled the first results.
The spaceplane, being displayed this week at the Paris Air and Space Show, looks in remarkably good condition and shows only moderate damage from its blazing journey through the atmosphere.
All of the flight hardware and data were recovered: telemetry and onboard recordings are complete and consistent from the various sensors.
IXV was launched on a remarkable 100-minute journey on 11 February. Its flawless suborbital flight of some 25,000 km, including 8,000 km in a searing atmospheric descent and safe splashdown at the targeted spot in the Pacific Ocean, tested critical reentry technologies.
Filed under: Manned Space Flight
