The Space Rider (Space Reusable Integrated Demonstrator for Europe Return) is a planned uncrewed orbital

lifting body A lifting body is a fixed-wing aircraft or spacecraft configuration in which the body itself produces lift (force), lift. In contrast to a flying wing, which is a wing with minimal or no conventional fuselage, a lifting body can be thought of as ...

spaceplane A spaceplane is a vehicle that can flight, fly and gliding flight, glide as an aircraft in Earth's atmosphere and function as a spacecraft in outer space. To do so, spaceplanes must incorporate features of both aircraft and spacecraft. Orbit ...

aiming to provide the

European Space Agency The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member International organization, international organization devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023, ESA was founded in 1975 ...

(ESA) with affordable and routine access to space.ESA's reusable Space RIDER capsule would carry equipment to orbit and back
Michael Irving, ''New Atlas'' 6 June 2019 Contracts for construction of the vehicle and ground infrastructure were signed in December 2020. Its

maiden flight The maiden flight, also known as first flight, of an aircraft is the first occasion on which it leaves the ground under its own power. The same term is also used for the first launch of rockets. In the early days of aviation it could be dange ...

is currently scheduled for 2027.

Background

Development of Space Rider is being led by the Italian Programme for Reusable In-orbit Demonstrator in Europe (PRIDE programme) in collaboration with ESA, and is the continuation of the Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV) experience, launched on 11 February 2015. The cost of this phase, not including the launcher, is at least US$36.7 million. At the ESA Ministerial Council held in Seville in November 2019, the development of the Space Rider was subscribed by the participating member states with an allocation of €195.73 million. The European Space Agency has a program called

Future Launchers Preparatory Programme The Future Launchers Preparatory Programme (FLPP) is a technology development and maturation programme of the European Space Agency (ESA). It develops technologies for the application in future European launch vehicles and in upgrades to exist ...

(FLPP), which made a call for submissions for a reusable spaceplane. One of the submissions was by the

Italian Space Agency The Italian Space Agency (; ASI) is a government agency established in 1988 to fund, regulate and coordinate space exploration activities in Italy. The agency cooperates with numerous national and international entities who are active in aerospac ...

, that presented their own Programme for Reusable In-orbit Demonstrator in Europe (PRIDE programme) which went ahead to develop the precursor called Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV) and the resulting Space Rider. This qualification flight of Space Rider will take place in 2027. On completion of the two-month long maiden mission, Space Rider will return to

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

with the payloads stowed in its cargo bay. The maiden flight will be followed by several missions to demonstrate a range of capabilities and orbits, before handing over the project to the private sector.ESA targets 2021 for Space RIDER demo flight
Tereza Pultarova, ''SpaceNews'' 13 November 2018 By 2025, the ESA plans to privatise the Space Rider, with

Arianespace Arianespace SA is a French company founded in March 1980 as the world's first commercial launch service provider. It operates two launch vehicles: Vega C, a Small-lift launch vehicle, small-lift rocket, and Ariane 6, a Medium-lift launch vehicl ...

the likely operator.

Timeline

* Funding was initially approved by the ESA in 2016, with the project to be led by the Italian Aerospace Research Centre (CIRA).

Thales Alenia Space Thales Alenia Space () is a joint venture between the French technology corporation Thales Group (67%) and Italian defense conglomerate Leonardo (company), Leonardo (33%). The company is headquartered in Cannes, France. It provides space-based ...

and

Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American Arms industry, defense and aerospace manufacturer with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta on March 15, 1995. It is headquartered in North ...

were tasked with completing the design by 2019. * In November 2017, the ESA approved funding to Thales Alenia Space and

Avio Avio S.p.A. is an Italian company operating in the aerospace sector with its head office in Colleferro near Rome, Italy. Founded in 1908, it is present in Italy and abroad with different commercial offices and 10 production sites. Avio operate ...

to build reentry and service modules, respectively. * Activities for Phase-B2/C, covering the Preliminary Design Review (PDR) started on 25 January 2018. * In April 2018, ESA released an Announcement of Opportunity (AoO) to fly small payloads on Space Rider's maiden flight. By June 2019, the project was advancing towards the Critical Design Review (CDR) at the end of 2019. * The Critical Design Review (CDR) began in late 2019. In late November 2019, the project was fully approved by ESA and will be funded mostly by

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

,. An industrial reorganisation followed the ESA Ministerial Council held in 2019. To deal with it a design bridging phase was put in place with the System CDR planned in mid-2022. * In December 2020, ESA signed contracts with co-prime contractors Thales Alenia Space and Avio for delivery of the Space Rider flight model, which in turn manage a consortium of more than 20 European companies operating in the space sector. The

(ASI) subsequently contracted with

Virgin Galactic Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. is a British-American spaceflight company founded by Richard Branson and the Virgin Group conglomerate, which retains an 11.9% stake through Virgin Investments Limited. It is headquartered in California, and opera ...

for a suborbital research flight on

SpaceShipTwo The Scaled Composites Model 339 SpaceShipTwo (SS2) was an air-launched suborbital spaceplane type designed for space tourism. It was manufactured by The Spaceship Company, a California-based company owned by Virgin Galactic. SpaceShipTwo was ...

for research related to Space Rider. * On June 20 2023, the Space Rider programme proceeded into Phase D of its development, allowing qualification and production to commence. * In early August 2024, the first

parafoil A parafoil is a nonrigid (textile) airfoil with an aerodynamic cell structure which is inflated by the wind. Ram-air inflation forces the parafoil into a classic wing cross-section. Parafoils are most commonly constructed out of ripstop nylon. T ...

guided landing tests were performed in

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...

by dropping a full-scale model from a helicopter. * In November 2024, Portugal Space announced that the island of Santa Maria has been chosen as the landing site for the inaugural flight of Space Rider. * In December 2024, Beyond Gravity has delivered the ALEK structure, a component of the service module, to

. * In January 2025, the main structure of the first service module was delivered for testing in the Netherlands, ahead of its inaugural flight later in the year. * In February 2025, CIRA has announced the successful qualification of Space Rider’s body flaps. * In April 2025, the ALEK (AVUM Life Extension Kit) structure has finished its mechanical tests, qualifying for launch.

Design

The Space Rider design inherits technology developed for the earlier Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle, also within the Programme for Reusable In-orbit Demonstrator in Europe (PRIDE). The design team considered the trade-offs of using only a

and also using optional wings or vertical fins. 3-axis control is achieved by the use of rear flaps. Space Rider will have the potential to allow experiments in microgravity, such as exposure of materials to outer space and in-orbit validation of technologies, as well as deployment of small satellites. Space Rider is designed to launch atop the Vega-C+ launch vehicle from

Guiana Space Centre The Guiana Space Centre (; CSG), also called Europe's Spaceport, is a spaceport to the northwest of Kourou in French Guiana, an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas region of France in South America. Kourou is located approxim ...

, utilizing the new P160C first stage due to mass requirements.The spacecraft is being designed to conduct missions up to two months long in

low Earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an geocentric orbit, orbit around Earth with a orbital period, period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an orbital eccentricity, eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial object ...

with up to 600 kg of cargo. The re-entry module itself is a

testbed A testbed (also spelled test bed) is a platform for conducting rigorous, transparent, and replicable testing of scientific theories, computing tools, and new technologies. The term is used across many disciplines to describe experimental research ...

for entry technologies as the IXV precursor was, so future improvements are envisioned, including point-to-point flights, even "space tourism".

Service module

Space Rider's service module is a modified version of the Vega-C AVUM+, which will extend the time that can be spent in orbit by at least two months before Space Rider returns with its cargo to Earth to land on the ground. The Vega C Avum+ upper stage is upgraded with the addition of the AVUM Life Extension Kit (ALEK), developed by Beyond Gravity, which includes the two deployable solar wings. The service module will provide power,

attitude control Spacecraft attitude control is the process of controlling the orientation of a spacecraft (vehicle or satellite) with respect to an inertial frame of reference or another entity such as the celestial sphere, certain fields, and nearby objects, ...

and deorbit capability, and it will separate from the spacecraft just before

atmospheric reentry Atmospheric entry (sometimes listed as Vimpact or Ventry) is the movement of an object from outer space into and through the gases of an atmosphere of a planet, dwarf planet, or natural satellite. Atmospheric entry may be ''uncontrolled entry ...

Landing

Upon

atmospheric entry Atmospheric entry (sometimes listed as Vimpact or Ventry) is the movement of an object from outer space into and through the gases of an atmosphere of a planet, dwarf planet, or natural satellite. Atmospheric entry may be ''uncontrolled entr ...

, the lifting body shape will decelerate the spacecraft to subsonic speed (below

Mach The Mach number (M or Ma), often only Mach, (; ) is a dimensionless quantity in fluid dynamics representing the ratio of flow velocity past a Boundary (thermodynamic), boundary to the local speed of sound. It is named after the Austrian physi ...

0.8), when one or two

drogue parachute A drogue parachute, also called drag chute, is a parachute designed for deployment from a rapidly moving object. It can be used for various purposes, such as to decrease speed, to provide control and stability, as a pilot parachute to deploy ...

will be deployed at about 15–12 km altitude to slow it further (to Mach 0.18 - 0.22) The landing concept is similar to the NASA X-38 landing system. The baseline landing site is the

. For orbits with

inclination Orbital inclination measures the tilt of an object's orbit around a celestial body. It is expressed as the angle between a reference plane and the orbital plane or axis of direction of the orbiting object. For a satellite orbiting the Eart ...

>37°, landings could be performed at the Portuguese

Santa Maria Island Santa Maria (; Portuguese language, Potuguese and Spanish language, Spanish for 'Saint Mary') is an island in the Eastern Group, Azores, eastern group of the Azores archipelago (south of the island of São Miguel Island, São Miguel) and the sou ...

in the Azores archipelago.

Preliminary specifications

'RM' is reentry module, 'AOM' is the service module.

External links

Official User Guide
ESA. v2.0, December 2023

References

{{Future spaceflights Spaceplanes Proposed European Space Agency spacecraft 2024 in spaceflight Proposed spacecraft Reusable spacecraft