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Intermediate Experimental Vehicle (IXV)

The European Space Agency (ESA) is set to test launch the Intermediate Experimental Vehicle (IXV) – a 16-foot, two-ton, wingless “space plane” which could help pave the way for reusable spacecraft. IXV is scheduled to be launched into space on a Vega rocket from a space pad in Kourou, French Guiana, at 13:00 GMT on 11 February 2015.

Shaped like a cone to facilitate reentry, IXV’s mission is to better understand “the interaction between environmental pressures and the structural components of the space vehicle,” ESA said in a statement. It will also test new materials to avoid burning up during reentry. "We are able to go [to space], we are able to stay in orbit, what we want to learn today is to close the loop, to return from orbit, and this is one of the most complex disciplines in space activity," IXV program manager Giorgio Tumino told AFP.

If all goes according to plan, it is expected to separate from Vega’s protective fairing at an altitude of 320 km, some 18 minutes after liftoff. IXV will then ascend to an altitude of roughly 450 km, before it plummets to the ground at several times the speed of sound, recording data throughout the course of its descent.