The Space Rider is a project of automated space vehicle, which can be reused for unmanned re-entry and is currently being studied by the ESA and mainly funded by Italy.

The Space Rider is a project of automated and reusable space vehicle for unmanned re-entry, which is currently being studied by the ESA and is mainly funded by Italy.

This mini-shuttle picks up the baton from IXV, an experimental space shuttle developed in Italy and tested in 2015, and should debut in 2021.

Strongly wanted by the Italian Space Agency, Space Rider is the result of an agreement between the ESA and Thales Alenia Space, together with the European Launch Vehicle consortium setup by Avio and the ASI. CIRA will play an important role in this system, up to the development and increase of telecommunication satellite applications.

Space Rider will be launched from the European spaceport of French Guyana, aboard the ESA VEGA vector, in its new C version. It could remain up to two months in space, testing new in-flight technologies and carrying out several microgravity experiments, whose results will be analyzed during the re-entry on Earth.

The space shuttle, which is capable of carrying out a controlled atmospheric re-entry from the low terrestrial orbit, will be made available to commercial and institutional customers and will have an 800-kg payload.

‣ News

THURSDAY 23 MARCH 2023

SPEI SATELLES: A SPACE MISSION TO BRING A MESSAGE OF HOPE TO ALL HUMANITY ‣

The space mission, its genesis, its details and its prospects, will be communicated at 10.30 on 27 March, the third anniversary of the Statio Orbis and the tenth of the pontificate of Pope Francis - Sala Marconi, Piazza Pia 3 Rome MORE...

WEDNESDAY 15 MARCH 2023

ITALIAN PRESIDENT, SERGIO MATTARELLA, VISITS THE “LUIGI BROGLIO” SPACE CENTER IN MALINDI ‣

President Mattarella's first Official Visit to Kenya. Watch the video on AsiTV MORE...

TUESDAY 14 MARCH 2023

The 13th Farinella Prize ‣

The prize is assigned during the EPSC annual meetings MORE...

FRIDAY 03 MARCH 2023

PRISMA in support of the ESA EO Africa initiative ‣

The ASI hyperspectral satellite acquires in Kenya for the HyRELIEF project funded by ESA MORE...

WEDNESDAY 01 MARCH 2023

Agreement between the Italian Ministry of Culture and the Italian Space Agency for heritage study and protection ‣

“Eyes” in space to protect  our national cultural heritage. Cultural heritage data collection kicks off through the COSMO-SkyMed system developed by ASI in cooperation with the Ministry of Defense MORE...