The Advanced Reentry Demonstrator (ARD) was a European Space Agency (ESA) suborbital reentry vehicle. It was developed and operated for experimental purposes, specifically to validate the multiple reentry technologies integrated upon it and the vehicle's overall design, as well as to gain greater insight into the various phenomenon encountered during reentry.
The ARD only performed a single spaceflight. On 21 October 1998, the vehicle was launched upon the third flight of the Ariane 5 expendable launch system. Reaching a recorded altitude of 830 km, the ARD performed a guided reentry back to Earth before splashing down relatively close to its intended target point in the Pacific Ocean after one hour and 41 minutes of flight. Following its recovery and subsequent analysis, the vehicle was found to have performed well, the nose cone and heat shield thermal protection having remaining in an ideal state and having remained completely airtight and perfectly intact.
The ARD was the first guided sub-orbital reentry vehicle to be manufactured, launched and recovered by Europe.[1][2] One of the core purposes of the mission was the gathering of knowledge that could be subsequently used during the development of future re-entry vehicles and precise landing capabilities. In the aftermath of the programme, the ESA decided to embark on a follow-up reentry demonstrator, known as the Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IVX). The first IXV vehicle underwent its first successful test flight during February 2015. The ARD and IVX demonstrators are intended to serve as developmental stepping stones towards a vehicle called Space Rider, meant to be the first of a series of production-standard spaceplanes.
^Tran, Phillipe., J.C. Paulat and P. Boukhobza. "Re-entry Flight Experiments Lessons Learned – The Atmospheric Reentry Demonstrator ARD." Archived 2022-12-19 at the Wayback Machine EADS Space Transportation, 1 June 2007. OMB No. 0704-0188.
^Cite error: The named reference ARD ESA was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
and 23 Related for: Atmospheric Reentry Demonstrator information
The Advanced ReentryDemonstrator (ARD) was a European Space Agency (ESA) suborbital reentry vehicle. It was developed and operated for experimental purposes...
previously conducted studies, especially from the successful AtmosphericReentryDemonstrator (ARD), which was test-flown during 1998. Early on, during the...
types of atmospheric entry: uncontrolled entry, such as the entry of astronomical objects, space debris, or bolides; and controlled entry (or reentry) of a...
concept study was produced by Aerospatiale in 1998, called AtmosphericReentryDemonstrator (ARD). ARES envisioned a delta wing spaceplane with a mass...
Laboratories product Apple Remote Desktop, computer application AtmosphericReentryDemonstrator, ESA spacecraft Auxiliary repair dock Accelerated Rehabilitative...
contract to perform further studies, which led to a scaled-down AtmosphericReentryDemonstrator capsule, which was flown in 1997. The ESA instead elected to...
Skylon, SpaceLiner, Fast 20XX ALPHA. Earth Atmospheric re-entry: X-38, AtmosphericReentryDemonstrator, IXV, EXPERT. Safety aspect related to the ATV...
with NASA. ARV development would make use of work done on the AtmosphericReentryDemonstrator, Crew Return Vehicle and related projects. The budget for this...
Hermes. Cancelled in 2005 after lack of interest. AtmosphericReentryDemonstrator – suborbital reentry test flown on the third Ariane 5 flightPages displaying...
surface of the RLV-TD to protect it against the intense heat during atmosphericreentry. This prototype weighs around 1.5 tonnes and flew to an altitude...
Flight Experiment) was a National Space Development Agency of Japan reentrydemonstrator prototype which was launched in 1996 on the only flight of the J-I...
portal SRE-2 CARE List of Indian satellites AtmosphericReentryDemonstrator (ARD was a suborbital reentry test vehicle built by Aérospatiale of France...
capability, and it will separate from the spacecraft just before atmosphericreentry. Upon atmospheric entry, the lifting body shape will decelerate the spacecraft...
metallurgy. SRE-1 Indian human spaceflight programme AtmosphericReentryDemonstrator (ARD was a suborbital reentry test vehicle built by Aérospatiale of France...
to deorbit and reenter the atmosphere. The orbiter was protected during reentry by its thermal protection system tiles, and it glided as a spaceplane to...
extremely light. During reentry, the base also served as a water-cooled heatshield. This was theoretically a good way to survive reentry, particularly for a...
altitude of 38,700 m reaching a maximum velocity of 2320 km/h. Upon atmosphericreentry the rocket capsule parachute failed to deploy and the capsule was...
mid-course phase (i.e., after the rocket burn has completed but prior to reentry into the atmosphere). Aegis BMD-equipped vessels can engage potential threats...
Global Information