The Exploration Company, a company specializing in spatial logistics based in Germany, lost contact with its experimental space capsule on Tuesday, just after the vehicle approached its atmospheric back to school. A blow for the firm, which still remains optimistic about the potential of its system.
This mission, nicknamed Mission Possibleis part of a program called Nyx. His goal: to produce a Modern, modular and reusable transport system To serve the international space station as well as the next orbital outposts which will soon succeed it.
Convincing beginnings
These efforts went up a gear when the firm launched its first machine during the inaugural flight of Ariane 6, on July 9, 2024. This mission, called Bikini, was centered around a reduced model of the future NYX capsule. This demonstrator, designed as a test platform, has managed to mobilize all its subsystems (propulsion, food, communication, telemetry, control, etc.) without problem.
Unfortunately, the last step could not take place. The engines on the upper floor of Ariane 6 did not manage to restart at the determining moment, preventing the capsule from resuming the ground of the earth to test its performances during the critical phase of the atmospheric back to school. She has therefore remained trapped in orbit since that date, without the possibility of extracting it since it did not have its own propulsion system.
But overall, it was still a great success thanks to which the company was able to design a second demonstrator, larger and closer to the final version. The latter also contained 300 kilos of commercial payload, mainly scientific experiences provided by various customers who had reserved a place on board.
A glitch at the end of the mission
This machine was launched by SpaceX on June 23 and, overall, it also behaved very well. He separated without problem from the launcher, following which he managed to start all his subsystems on stabilizing and establishing communication with the teams on the ground.
The big difference is that unlike its predecessor, this second vehicle was able to start its big jump from the angel to our planet. Unfortunately, it did not go as planned. The operators lost all contact with the machine at the end of the descent, which suggests that a critical dysfunction took place on board. At present, the capsule is undoubtedly lost somewhere in the ocean – remains to be seen in what state.
It is a blow for the program, because the firm hoped that this second demonstrator would also be the last. In the event of total success, it could have tackled the transition to the final version of the NYX capsule. Following the relative failure of the atmospheric back to school, The Exploration Company will finally have to launch a third demonstrator to ensure that its platform is working properly before approaching the operational phase.
The calendar of this new mission has not yet been unveiled. But according to European Spaceflightthe company will put double bites to achieve this “as soon as possible”, As soon as the Investigation into the incident is finished.
Be that as it may, despite this course accident, the mission nevertheless made it possible to test several key phases of the flight with success. So there is something to remain optimistic, and it will be necessary to keep an eye on this promising young push which, in the long term, could well establish itself as a cador of European aerospace.
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