The Assembly, Integration and Test Approach of the Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV) Re-entry Demonstrator

摘要

The Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV) project is a re-entry demonstratoraimed to perform in-flight experimentation with atmospheric re-entry enablingsystems and technologies. IXV is designed to be the “intermediate” element of atechnology-effective and cost-efficient European roadmap for in-flight verification ofnew technologies. It aims to pave the way for more ambitious operational systemswith limited risks for Europe.It is scheduled to be launched with the Vega launcher from French Guiana in 2013.This paper will focus on the specificities and constraints in the Assembly, Integrationand Test of such a demonstrator arising from:1. the use of advance materials in the thermal shield2. the complex assembly sequence that needs to consider the various layers ofinsulation3. the high number and variety of experimental sensors4. the integration and test of control surfaces, descent parachute and recoverysystem.5. the integration and test of Guidance, Navigation and Control system for a reentryVehicleThe driving keywords of "low cost" and "short schedule" program, call forminimizing the development effort by utilizing off-the-shelf equipment combinedwith a model philosophy lowering the number of models to be used.The paper will deal also on the peculiarities of the optimized environmental testapproach chosen for the IXV.