Intermediate Experimental Vehicle expected to splash down in Pacific after 1hr 40m
The European Space Agency has an important launch on Wednesday from its Kourou launch pad in French Guiana.
The launch is a flight-test of a reusable vehicle that will provide service for visits to low earth orbit.
Known as the Intermediate Experimental Vehicle or IXV, it is about the size of a family car and weighs about two tonnes.
A European Vega rocket will lift it
onto a suborbital path and then release it 340km up and it will
continue to climb to about 412km before beginning its short return
journey, the agency said.
The flight should prove
the IXV can return from space safely. It is expected to splash down in
the Pacific Ocean after a total mission time of one hour and 40 minutes.
Flight controllers will use thrusters and aerodynamic flaps like a remote control plane to manoeuvre the craft when in full use.
Irish involvement
There is significant Irish involvement in the IXV, according to Tony McDonald, manager of ESA programmes at Enterprise Ireland.
The
Dublin subsidiary of US aerospace company Curtiss-Wright, which employs
about 140 people, was involved in developing some of the avionics
systems controlling the vehicle.
“It is an experimental re-entry vehicle and it will prove the technology works and can be used on future missions,” Mr McDonald said.
“Proof
that space technology works is key when you enter the marketplace. You
need show the technology works in the space environment.”
Ireland has 50 companies involved in space technology, employing about 2,000 people, he said.
Some
are involved in flight activity, but many are also taking technology
developed for space and then using it in downstream non-space sectors
such as the aircraft industry and medical devices.
Curtiss-Wright
has a long history in engineering, given it arose from the original
company set up by the Wright brothers after their successful early
flights. The company is also involved in “mission critical” data
collection as the IXV is put through its paces during the flight.
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