ESA Space Rider Undergoes Second Round Precision Drop Testing

The European Space Agency (ESA) has announced its successful completion of a second round of drop tests for the ESA Space Rider, its upcoming reusable uncrewed orbital vehicle. Conducted over a two-week period at the Salto di Quirra (PISQ) testing range in Sardinia, Italy, the test series focused on validatingkey descent and landing technologies for future missions.

The ESA Space Rider is a robotic orbital laboratory, approximately the size of two minivans, that will launch aboard the Vega-C launch vehicle. Designed to operate in low Earth orbit for up to two months, the spacecraft will support in-flight experiments in microgravity and enable in-orbit validation across applications such as pharmaceutical development, biomedicine, biology, robotics, physical science, telecommunications, Earth observation, and satellite servicing. At the end of each mission, Space Rider will return to Earth, execute a precision runway landing under parafoil control, and be refurbished for reuse after just six months.

The drop-test campaign was led by Thales Alenia Space Italia, ESA’s prime contractor for the reentry module, with participation from industrial partners Sener, CIMSA, Teseo, and Meteomatics. The Italian Air Force and Army provided flight operations support, ground logistics, and range access, highlighting the strength of public–private and civil–military cooperation in developing European reusable spaceflight systems.

The July 2025 testing campaign evaluated two key elements of the vehicle’s descent sequence: the qualification of the multi-stage parachute deployment sequence, and the verification of onboard guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) software responsible for autonomous parafoil steering. Both test tracks were critical to validating Space Rider’s closed-loop landing capabilities.

Space Rider’s descent system employs a three-stage parachute chain designed to manage extreme reentry conditions. As the spacecraft reenters Earth’s atmosphere, it will be traveling at over six times the speed of sound and subjected to temperatures exceeding 1600 °C due to aerodynamic heating. To slow the vehicle and ensure a safe, controlled landing, a series of aerodynamic braking devices are deployed in sequence.

First, a circular drogue chute opens just below Mach 1 to initiate deceleration. This is followed by deployment of a pilot chute, which extracts the large steerable parafoil at an altitude of approximately 5 kilometers. The parafoil enables guided gliding descent toward the landing zone, allowing Space Rider to achieve a runway landing with high precision.

Three successful descent-system tests demonstrated that this parachute chain performed reliably under flight conditions. Each trial confirmed the successful deployment, extraction, and inflation of all three elements—from drogue to pilot to parafoil—and validated their ability to reduce speed to safe levels in preparation for final touchdown.

In parallel, three additional closed-loop drop tests were successfully performed using a second test model designed specifically for autonomous descent validation. This model consisted of a metal pallet equipped with onboard avionics, measurement sensors, two winches to actuate the parafoil’s steering lines, a canister housing the packed parachutes, and a concrete ballast matched to the mass of the actual reentry module. Upon release from the helicopter at altitudes up to 2.5 kilometers, the system operated in a fully autonomous closed-loop mode—relying solely on its internal sensors and actuators to guide the descent without any ground-based control. Each flight lasted approximately 12 minutes, achieving a vertical descent speed of 4 m/s and a final touchdown velocity of 2 m/s. The model successfully landed within 150 meters of the designated target zone. Although salto translates to “jump” in Italian, the campaign proved Space Rider’s ability to land gently with remarkable precision—representing a world-first for autonomous parafoil-guided landing accuracy at this scale in Europe.

The Space Rider landing verification program will continue in phases. A system-level drop test is planned using a full-scale mockup of the reentry module with authentic shape, weight, and integrated landing gear. This will be followed by a landing-stability test campaign in which a second mockup will be accelerated along a track and dropped to simulate worst-case touchdown dynamics. These final trials will ensure the spacecraft can protect sensitive payloads from excessive landing forces. Both test phases will be conducted with continued support from the Italian Ministry of Defence at the newly established Space Rider landing facility at Salto di Quirra.

About the European Space Agency (ESA)

The European Space Agency (ESA) is an intergovernmental organization established in 1975 through the merger of the European Launcher Development Organisation and the European Space Research Organisation. Headquartered in Paris, ESA coordinates space exploration and technology development across its 23 member states, operating under a framework of geographic return to ensure proportional industrial participation. As of 2025, the agency manages an annual budget of approximately €7.7 billion and maintains technical facilities, laboratories, and mission operations centers across Europe. ESA’s engineering and development work is centered at its ESTEC facility in the Netherlands, with spacecraft operations conducted from ESOC in Germany. Its programmatic portfolio spans Earth observation, space science, telecommunications, navigation, launch systems, and robotic exploration. ESA also supports standardized engineering and quality assurance through the European Cooperation for Space Standardization (ECSS). The agency plays a central role in Europe’s efforts to develop autonomous space transportation, including the Space Rider program, which advances reusable orbital vehicle capabilities for microgravity research, technology demonstration, and on-orbit servicing. For more information, please click here.

Source/Photo Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)

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