2026/04/22
758 view
13 like
Simply put
- The first full-scale test model of the European Space Agency’s reusable spacecraft SpaceRider is completed
- The model was completed at the Italian Aerospace Research Center in Capua, Italy.
- The model will be dropped from a helicopter later this year and will glide to landing to recreate the final approach from orbit.
detail
Space Rider is a European reusable transportation system
Space Rider is planned to be Europe’s first reusable spacecraft. The unmanned robot laboratory will stay in low orbit for about two months. All kinds of experiments and operations can be carried out in the space rider’s cargo hold. After the mission, the SpaceRider reentry module will return to Earth, glide under parafoils and land on the runway.
No operational spacecraft has ever been designed to land on a target using parafoils, so extensive testing is being prepared. The drop test model was manufactured at the Romanian National Aerospace Institute “Eli Calafoli” (INCAS) in Craiova, Romania, and then transported to the Italian Center for Aerospace Research (CIRA) in Capua, Italy. CIRA will be responsible for the design, integration, and implementation of the drop tests.
space rider nose
The avionics, the “brains” of Space Rider, were installed in the second week of March. The computer contains guidance, navigation, and control algorithms that adapt to wind gusts and steer the parafoil, guiding Space Rider to a soft landing.
Roughly the size of a minivan, this drop-test model is a full-size replacement for the 4.6-meter-long reentry module. Space Rider always lands on the skis with the landing gear open, as the landing gear is not part of the drop test in this model.
perfectly folded
To complete the drop test model, the parafoil was folded and integrated. The giant parafoil is 27 meters long and 10 meters wide, about 10 times the size required by a human paraglider, as it would need to support the Space Rider’s 2,950 kg as it glides to Earth.
Internal view of Space Rider drop test model
The complex folding and integration took three weeks using a custom-built machine that presses and packs the parachute and parafoil. If deployment and deployment fail during free fall several kilometers above Earth, Space Rider will be unable to make a soft touchdown.
Two winches pull the parafoil’s steering lines, which are completely controlled by the spacecraft’s avionics and without any human involvement.
“It’s great to see the SpaceRider reentry module take shape like this,” said Aldo Scaccia, ESA’s SpaceRider space division manager. “The team can’t wait to put this model to the test and watch it fly and glide.”
To test the final landing approach, SpaceRider will be dropped multiple times later this year from a helicopter flying to a maximum altitude of 3km over the Salto di Quira test range on the Italian island of Sardinia.
Thales Alenia Space Italia is an industry leader in testing and co-promoting the Space Rider program with Avio.
space rider drop model assembly
#Space #Rider #Drop #Model #Ready #Glide