Posted on 05/08/2026 7:13:38 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
One of the most significant challenges for any spacecraft is reentering Earth's atmosphere safely. The Space Rider spacecraft is no different, but recent tests have marked considerable progress. ESA engineers subjected the spacecraft's thermal protection system to extreme conditions, simulating the intense heat of atmospheric reentry. Using the largest plasma wind tunnel in the world at the Italian Aerospace Research Centre (CIRA), ESA exposed the spacecraft's components to temperatures reaching up to 2,900°F (1,600°C). This crucial test ensures that Space Rider can survive the fiery descent back to Earth.
The thermal protection system also underwent tests to simulate how it would react if damaged by debris or micrometeoroids. Engineers deliberately introduced defects into the tiles and exposed them to the plasma jet, providing valuable insights into how Space Rider will handle less-than-ideal reentry conditions.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailygalaxy.com ...
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Lab tests on the Earth's surface.
Something from the wild world of web:
Returning from space is the most dangerous part of any mission. When the European Space Agency (ESA) launched the IXV spaceplane, they weren't just testing a new vehicle -- they were testing a radical "lifting body" design that uses its own shape to glide through the atmosphere at 27,000 km/h.How The IXV Spaceplane Was Recovered
From The Ocean | 44:08
Spark | 1.98M subscribers | 5,624 views | May 2, 2026
The IXV went up for it's one and only unmanned reentry test. The same year, SpaceX carried out its first of over 600 (and counting) main booster landings.
SPACE - Europe launches IXV,
its first experimental space shuttle | 1:34
France 24 English | 3.6M subscribers | 5,655 views | February 11, 2015
At this rate, maybe in 50-60 years, the ESA might get around to reusing the boosters that send craft into space.
I’m impressed that their plasma wind tunnel can heat to such a large temperature. But I’m not sure it can really duplicate the kinetic forces a returning spacecraft must endure as it faces hypersonic reentry speeds.
It’s also a bad case of reinventing the wheel / pork barrel. My guess is, it’ll never take anyone to and/or from space. Ten years after the uncrewed flight test, an identical project will be started, previous work scrapped and forgotten.
Musk called the Ariane 5 a joke; the Ariane 6 was being designed at the time, and now has been in service since 2024, costs $118 million per launch (10,350 kg; with extra strapons and more cost, 21,650 kg). The talk from the ESA after 2015 was, oh, we’re looking into reusability.
The Falcon 9 runs $74 per launch for 17,500 kg (reusable) and for more money (expendible) 22,800 kg. The Falcon Heavy (rarely used, due to low demand) delivers 63,800 kg to LEO and runs a bit over $150 million (expendible), or 57,000 kg and a bit more than $97 million (side boosters recovered).
This situation seems analogous to the WWII industrial production of the US, which helped bring an earlier end to two separate wars, and simultaneously. The US wound up with an insurmountable lead in naval superiority. Went from about six dozen subs (some of which were nearly 20 years old designs) in 1941 to something north of 200 by August 1945. Including all classes, 101 aircraft carriers were left (most of them new) by that time.
After the war the world didn’t plunge back into a depression as had happened after WWI. In addition to an unprecedented industrial buildout, baby boom, suburbanization, two-car families, etc, the US rebuilt Europe and Japan.
Despite a history of problems, I’d guess that Sierra Space will orbit the Dreamchaser or whatever their minishuttle is called, uncrewed, then crewed, before the ESA accomplishes either with this latest.
All that work to send Muzzies into space??
The ESA along with the Canadian Space Agency which consists of a concrete slab have both said they will build their own low earth orbit satellite network to rival Starlink.
Blue Origin just landed their first booster even though they failed to put the satellite into orbit is the only other space launch organization to accomplish this feat.
If landing the boosters was so easy, everyone would be doing it, so far no one has successfully accomplished landing a booster.
Any hacker worth his salt can make the craft reenter just right and crash directly into the kaaba.
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