As the American shuttle program winds down, the European one is starting up

Like it? Share it!

As the American shuttle program winds down, the European one is starting up

America’s got one more shuttle flight to go and it’s the end of a beautiful 30 year program. The European Space Agency on the other hand is just starting their own shuttle program, with a vehicle called the IXV, or Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle.

IXV is quite different from the NASA shuttle, using a lifting body design instead of wings, with some flaps and thrusters to provide control. Another change is that it lifts off for space on the nose of a small Vega rocket, and splashes down in the Pacific Ocean instead of landing on a runway. In that way it more closely resembles America’s initial forays into space, such as the splash-down orbiter designs of the Mercury Program.

The biggest difference however is that the IXV flies autonomously, with no fragile human crew to drive up the costs. At least, the IXV isn’t planned to carry passengers into space just yet, taking a page from Russia’s unmanned, autonomous cargo ships that help resupply the International Space Station.

Tuesday’s agreement gives manufacturer Thales Alenia Space the go ahead to start building IXV, with a first flight scheduled in 2013.

So kind of like the shuttle, but not. It’s sort of cool, but putting people into space is cooler.

Via