Europe's Reusable Space Rider Mockup Hits the Ground After Parachute Fails

A full-scale mockup of the European Space Agency's Space Rider, the continent's planned first reusable spacecraft, crashed during a drop test on Oct. 6 after its main steerable parachute came off while opening, Space.com reported. ESA says an independent investigation is looking into the cause.

At an ESA Council media briefing on Oct. 22, Géraldine Naja, the agency's director of space transportation, said she hopes the failure will not change the remaining schedule or qualification work. She added that the remaining activities are not on the critical path for Space Rider's development.

How the test unfolded

The mockup was about the size of a minivan and reproduced the size and flight characteristics of the vehicle's reentry module, including avionics for autonomous guidance and navigation. It was released from a helicopter at an altitude of approximately 2 miles (3 kilometers) over a military range on the Italian island of Sardinia.

According to Naja, the smaller drogue parachute opened as planned and began slowing the descent. The larger parafoil then detached as it deployed, leaving the vehicle in freefall until it hit the ground. ESA has recovered all of its components.

The road to this test

• 2025: Space Rider's descent and landing qualification campaign began, with earlier successes demonstrating parafoil deployment and autonomous capabilities.
• Earlier this year: Heat-shield materials were exposed to temperatures around 2,900 degrees Fahrenheit (1,600 degrees Celsius) in plasma wind tunnel trials.
• May: An attempted drop test was called off before release after a sensor flagged a problem during preparations.
• June through September: The test range, run by Italy's Ministry of Defense, was unavailable.
• Oct. 6: The latest drop test ended in the parafoil failure.
• Oct. 22: Naja discussed the incident at the ESA Council briefing.

Why the parachute matters so much

Space Rider is an uncrewed vehicle meant to carry scientific experiments to orbit for up to two months and then bring them back to Earth for analysis. Its wingless, lifting-body shape relies on a steerable parachute, or parafoil, to guide it toward a landing area. That allows runway-style touchdowns, which Space.com described as more precise than other parachute-assisted recoveries now in use.

The October test was meant to demonstrate exactly that ability, which is a critical requirement if the vehicle is to be flown again after missions in orbit.

What this means for the program

An ESA spokesperson told Space.com that the test was not completed as planned because of an anomaly during the parafoil deployment sequence, following several successful tests with representative vehicle masses. The agency has not named a cause.

Naja called the incident unfortunate but important, saying that many earlier tests had succeeded and that testing and validation are part of developing any space system. For now, the practical consequence is that the parafoil system will have to be shown to work reliably before Space Rider can be trusted to return experiments from orbit.

What happens next

The independent investigation is meant to establish the root cause and inform the next steps, according to ESA. The agency has targeted Space Rider's first orbital mission for later this decade, and Naja's comments suggest that goal has not changed, though ESA has not announced when the next drop test will take place.

Around Prague, based on reporting by Space.com