ARIANESPACE FLIGHT VV04 - IXV
THE LAUNCH READINESS REVIEW (RAL) took place in Kourou on Monday February 09, 2015 and authorized count-down operations for the Vega – IXV launch.

The fourth Vega launch from the Guiana Space Center (CSG) in French Guiana, will orbit the European Space Agency's IXV atmospheric reentry demonstrator.

The capability of returning from space is a cornerstone for enabling ambitious plans in reusable launcher stages, sample return from other planets and crew return from orbital infrastructures. The IXV mission will pioneer a series of system and technology aspects, performing a full atmospheric reentry mission with a lifting-body, incorporating the simplicity of a capsule and the performance of a winged vehicle with high controllability and manoeuvrability for precision landing. It will verify the most advanced thermal protection concepts and guidance navigation and control techniques, along with aerothermodynamic experiments, using more than 300 payload sensors.

The launch will be from the Vega Launch Site (SLV) in Kourou, French Guiana.

Liftoff is scheduled for Wednesday, February 11, 2015 between:

10:00 am and 11:43 am local time in French Guiana

08:00 am and 09:43 am in Washington, D.C.

01:00 pm and 02:43 pm, UTC

02:00 pm and 03:43 pm in Paris (14:00 - 15:43)


Live unter Arianespace TV