Yahoo – AFP,
February 11, 2015
Paris (AFP)
- Europe's prototype space plane splashed down in the Pacific on schedule
Wednesday after a 100-minute flight to test key re-entry technologies, the
European Space Agency (ESA) said.
"The
mission has come to an end according to plan... it couldn't have been
better," ESA Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain said in a live webcast.
Mission
officials cheered and hugged each other at the success.
Dubbed the
Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV), the craft marks the first step in
Europe's strategy to join an elite club of nations able to launch spacecraft
and return them safely to Earth.
It is an
innovative wingless wedge shape, designed to cope with the stress of re-entry
and glide to a pre-determined site.
The maiden
mission saw the car-sized IXV launched from ESA's base in French Guiana and
head eastwards on a sub-orbital path before splashing down about 3,000
kilometers (1,800 miles) west of the Galapagos Island.
It was to
be picked up by crane by a recovery ship.
"The
mission is not yet over because now it's going to be necessary to analyse all
of the data that was collected throughout the flight," said Dordain.
"The
data analysis part of the work is to begin soon. It will be hard work, but it
will move the frontiers of knowledge further back concerning aerodynamics,
thermal issues, guidance and navigation."
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