IXV

Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle

Artist's view of IXV reentry phase
Mission type	technology demonstration
Operator	ESA
Website	ESA Reentry technologies
Apogee	412 km (256 mi)
Spacecraft properties
Manufacturer	Thales Alenia Space
Launch mass	1,800 kg (4,000 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date	13:40, February 11, 2015 (2015-02-11T13:40)
Rocket	Vega
Launch site	Guiana Space Centre ELV
End of mission
Recovered by	recovery vessel Nos Aries
Landing date	February 11, 2015 (2015-02-11)
Landing site	Pacific Ocean

The Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV) is a European Space Agency (ESA) experimental suborbital re-entry vehicle. It was developed to serve as a prototype spaceplane to validate the ESA's work in the field of reusable launchers.

The IXV was developed specifically for evaluation and technology-proving purposed for the ESA within the frame of the Future Launchers Preparatory Programme (FLPP). The programme inherited the valuable data and principles from previously conducted studies, such as CNES's Pre-X and the ESA's AREV (Atmospheric Reentry Experimental Vehicle), and the successful Atmospheric Reentry Demonstrator (ARD), which had flown during 1998. The IXV was developed under the leadership of the NGL Prime SpA company.

On 11 February 2015, the IXV conducted its first 100-minute space flight, successfully completing is mission upon landing intact on the surface of the Pacific Ocean. The vehicle holds the distinction of being the first ever lifting body to perform full atmospheric reentry from orbital speed. The successor of IXV will be the PRIDE spaceplane (Programme for Reusable In-orbit Demonstrator in Europe).

During the 1980s and 1990s, there was significant international interest in the development of reusable launch platforms and reusable spacecraft, particularly in respect to spaceplanes; perhaps the most high-profile examples of these being the American Space Shuttle and Soviet Buran programmes. The national space agencies of European nations, such as France's Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES) and Germany's German Aerospace Center (DLR), worked on their own designs during this era, the most prominent of these to emerge being the Hermes spaceplane. Development of the Hermes programme, which was backed by the European Space Agency (ESA) for several years, was ultimately terminated in 1992 prior to any flights being performed in favour of a partnership arrangement with the Russian Aviation and Space Agency (RKA) to use the existing Soyuz spacecraft instead.