In November 2014, ESA's Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle
(IXV) will be launched into space. The suborbital spacecraft will then return to Earth to test a range of systems and technologies for atmospheric re-entry.
The IXV objectives are the design, development, manufacturing, and on-ground and in-flight verification of an autonomous European lifting and aerodynamically controlled re-entry system. Among the critical technologies of interest, special attention is being paid to: advanced instrumentation for aerodynamics and aerothermodynamics; thermal protection and hot-structures solutions; guidance, navigation and flight control through a combination of jets and aerodynamic flaps.
The IXV will be launched from Europe's spaceport at Kourou, French Guiana, using the Vega small launch vehicle. After reentering the atmosphere and being slowed down by air drag, the IXV will descend by parachute and land in the Pacific Ocean to await recovery and post-flight analysis.