The Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle. Photo: ESA <\/p>\n
Europe's first-ever \"space plane\" will be launched on February 11 next year, rocket firm Arianespace says after a three-month delay to fine-tune the flight plan. <\/p>\n
The unmanned, car-sized vessel will be sent into low orbit by Europe's Vega light rocket, on a 100-minute fact-finding flight to inform plans to build a shuttle-like, reusable space vehicle. <\/p>\n
Dubbed IXV, for Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle, the plane will be boosted from Europe's space pad in Kourou, French Guiana, and separate from its launcher at an altitude of 320 kilometres. <\/p>\n
ISV's misison overview. Photo: ESA <\/p>\n
The European Space Agency website says it will attain an altitude of around 450k kilometres before re-entering the atmosphere at an altitude of 120 kilometres - representative of a return mission from low orbit. <\/p>\n
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The vessel is expected to collect data on its hypersonic and supersonic flight phases, before plunging into the Pacific Ocean with a parachute. <\/p>\n
The initial launch had been scheduled for November 18, but Arianespace in October announced a postponement \"to carry out additional flight trajectory analyses\". <\/p>\n
\"Based on joint work by ESA [the European Space Agency] and CNES [the French space agency], the date for the IXV mission to be launched by Vega has been set for February 11, 2015,\" the company said in a statement on Friday. <\/p>\n
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'Space plane' readies for launch<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle. Continue reading