ESA’s recovered IXV spaceplane arrived at the Port of Livorno in Italy on 26 March 2015 and will be taken to Turin for final analysis.
Hardware will be removed for engineers to evaluate the reusability of components and the effects of heat, pressure and shock during the mission.
The Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle, IXV, was launched on a Vega rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on 11 February 2015. Released into a suborbital trajectory, it flew autonomously, reentering and splashing down in the Pacific Ocean after 100 minutes.