A prototype of a European reusable launch vehicle (RLV) is being prepared for testing later this month.
Astrium, with the Swedish Space Corporation, has built the Phoenix RLV as part of a European Space Agency (ESA) programme to demonstrate some of the initial technologies required for the development of RLVs. The 6.9m long, 1,200kg Phoenix, with a 3.8m wingspan, will be carried beneath a helicopter and dropped at an altitude of 2.5km over the Vidsel test range in Sweden.
Phoenix will be manoeuvred towards an unpowered automatic landing, using GPS and onboard sensors. A series of flights by the unpowered vehicle are planned, possibly leading to new vehicle, which could be Astrium's Hopper.
This would be launched horizontally using a long skid sled located at Kourou, South America – resmembling Fireball XL5, the spacecraft in Gerry Anderson's cult 60s puppet television programme.
Source: Flight Daily News