Quote from: FutureSpaceTourist on 07/29/2023 10:06 amhttps://twitter.com/esa/status/1685228793286324224Doesn't look like the future to me .
https://twitter.com/esa/status/1685228793286324224
Doesn't look like the future to me .
An update on ESA’s Space Rider program, which has now begun its validation and testing phase ahead of an expected launch in 2025. Space Rider's Program Manager spoke with NSF's Bella (@bellaa_richards) to update on the program’s status:
Teams from Telespazio, ALTEC, and Thales Alenia Space have successfully completed the first ground segment tests for the European Space Agency’s reusable Space Rider spacecraft.
Space Rider was initially scheduled to complete its maiden flight in 2023, however, several delays have pushed the date back. According to Galli, the new target date is now the third quarter of 2025.
The new version of the Space Rider user guide collects all the updates since the project passed its critical design review last year, the final step before moving to production.
The Space Rider manual provides an overview of the vehicle, its services and various mission scenarios. The manual gives users high-level knowledge and allows potential future users to plan for commercial mission opportunities. It is available to download, print and archive for anyone who wants to use the spacecraft in the future, or even if you just want to say you’ve read a spacecraft manual.The document ends with details on the vehicle and technical aspects for the payloads.
Future autonomous orbital laboratory Space Rider undergoes drop tests in Sardinia 🇮🇹Dropped by helicopter from heights of 3.5 km, drogue chutes deployed to slow down the test model down to a safe speed to extract a parafoil that will allow the future spacecraft to be steered to a landing strip. The enormous paraglider is 27 m long and 10 m wide – around 10 times larger than a human parafoil – is controlled from ground to test the aerodynamics involved. The test model touched down in a soft landing as planned losing altitude at a slow 12 km/h. The Space Rider project is an uncrewed laboratory about the size of two minivans that will be able to stay in orbit for up to two months. @Thales_Alenia_S is the industrial lead for the tests and co-prime for the #SpaceRider programme. @MinisteroDifesa supports the test activities as part of a national effort to enhance its space capabilities and international collaboration in the sector.
I'm taking this with a grain of salt, but the president of the Portuguese Space Agency said today that Space Rider's inaugural flight (NET 2027) will land in Santa Maria island (Azores).Source: https://acores.rtp.pt/local/santa-maria-vai-receber-voo-inaugural-do-space-rider/ (I find no sources in English, sorry)
The Portuguese Space Agency announced 8 November that the island of Santa Maria has been chosen as the landing site for the inaugural flight of Space Rider.
The landing site for Space Rider’s inaugural flight was announced during the inauguration of the Portuguese Space Agency’s headquarters in Vila do Porto, on the island of Santa Maria. The announcement was made by European Space Agency Flight Director Stefano Bianchi.
Switzerland’s Beyond Gravity has delivered the ALEK structure for the European Space Agency’s reusable Space Rider spacecraft to the Service Module prime contractor Avio.
Late last week, Beyond Gravity announced that it had delivered the ALEK structure for the first Space Rider vehicle.
Space Rider ALEK has been shipped to the ESA/ESTEC facility!✔️ The main structure is equipped and ready to start the UCMEC (Upper Composite MEChanics) system qualification test campaign, aimed at verifying the mechanical qualification of the Space Rider service module.The tests are designed to achieve the mechanical qualification and confirm the loads that will be experienced by the various subsystems and equipment of ALEK during the launcher's ascent flight in the #SpaceRider mission. The tests will be conducted in a sequence that includes vibration tests, acoustic response and shock propagation.🔙 At the end of the campaign in the Netherlands, which will last about three months, ALEK will return to Colleferro, where the installation of flight equipments and subsystems will begin on the same structure to complete the integration of the Space Rider service module destined for flight.
The next set of drop tests, expected to take place in spring 2025, will focus on characterizing the actual capability of the system and its ability to reach a specified target landing position. This testing phase will utilize a test article that is “representative of the mass and moment of inertia of the vehicle.”In the third or fourth quarter of 2025, the agency will commence full-scale system drop tests, which will include a representative mockup of the Re-entry Module. This testing will validate the actual landing of the vehicle and its stability once landed.The Vega C configuration that best fits this scenario is the one with the P160C first stage, and accordingly, the launch date is now set for 2027. The inaugural flight of Space Rider will carry a wide selection of payloads from both institutional and commercial customers. The current payload aggregate for Space Rider’s first flight includes 16 payloads, whose intended missions range from R&D and flight demonstration to microgravity experimentation for life sciences, physical sciences, Earth and deep space observation, and surrounding detection, satellite separation, proximity flight, and potentially re-entry into the cargo bay.