ESA Investigates Parachute Detachment During Space Rider Vehicle Test

The European Space Agency revealed new details regarding the drop test failure of the "Space Rider" vehicle on October 6, confirming that the parafoil detached from the prototype during deployment, causing it to fall to the ground faster than planned, according to the "European Space Flight" platform.

Géraldine Naja, Director of Space Transportation at the agency, said during a press conference on October 22 that the test involved dropping the prototype from a helicopter at an altitude of about three kilometers over a military test range in Sardinia, Italy. The initial drogue chute deployed successfully, but the parafoil, which was supposed to guide the vehicle to a controlled landing, detached from the prototype.

Naja confirmed that teams recovered the remains of the prototype and that an inquiry board was established to determine the cause of the detachment, though the reason is not yet known. The test aimed to demonstrate the full landing sequence using a prototype simulating the vehicle's mass, shape, and inertia.

The agency currently does not expect the failure to delay the vehicle's development, as the remaining qualification activities are not on the critical path, pending a review of the timeline once the investigation concludes. The agency still targets the first half of 2028 for the vehicle's inaugural flight on a Vega-C rocket.

What do these terms mean?

Parafoil: A wide, wing-like parachute used to steer the vehicle and control its descent speed.

Inertia: The resistance of a body to changes in its state of motion, which is simulated in the test prototype to match the real vehicle's behavior.

Critical path: The sequence of tasks whose delay determines the final completion date of the project.