IXV

ESA pours $107 million into Vega E and a reusable spaceplane
The European Space Agency today committed 89.7 million euros ($106.7 million) split between a new advanced iteration of the Vega launcher and the successor to a spaceplane demonstrator that flew in 2015.

IXV Makes a Splash as ESA Spaceplane Effort Treads Water
A European spaceplane technology demonstrator was successfully launched Feb. 11 on a 100-minute suborbital mission that took it into space for nearly an hour before it re-entered Earth’s atmosphere and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean more than halfway around the world.

ESA Seeks Answers about Canceled IXV Launch
The European Space Agency has created a board of inquiry to determine the cause of a last-minute decision by French authorities to cancel the launch of an experimental suborbital vehicle because of range-safety concerns.