Europe's 1st reusable spacecraft 'Space Rider' clears key hurdles on the road to launch

Before Europe's new spacecraft design can lift off on its first mission, the European Space Agency must first test the hardest parts of bringing it home. Space Rider, a novel spacecraft concept from the European Space Agency (ESA), is advancing toward its first flight, with new milestones tackling two of the vehicle's biggest challenges: surviving the heat of reentry and executing a precise landing back on Earth. Engineers recently pushed the spacecraft's thermal protection system to extreme conditions while also completing assembly of a full-size drop-test model that will soon undergo a guided landing attempt. Together, the progress marks a shift from component-level validation toward mission simulation, as Europe moves closer to flying its first reusable orbital vehicle later this decade. Render of ESA's Space Rider orbiter. (Image credit: European Space Agency) Space Rider is designed as an uncrewed laboratory that can stay in low Earth orbit for about two months before returning experiments and cargo to Earth . It can support microgravity research, technology demonstrations and on-orbit validation work, with the ability to return its contents for analysis back on the ground. Instead of splashing down or drifting under parachutes, the vehicle uses a lifting-body design (without wings) and will land under a steerable parafoil for a runway-style touchdown — a flight system unlike any that has matured to operability on a spacecraft to date. …