AROBS Engineering, part of AROBS Group, is the prime industrial partner for the independent software verification and validation of Space Rider, Europe’s first reusable space transportation system. Such activities will be carried out under the Space Rider Program funded by the European Space Agency (ESA).

Space Rider aims to provide Europe with an affordable, independent, reusable end-to-end integrated space transportation system for routine access and return from low orbit. It will transport payloads for various applications, orbit altitudes, and inclinations.

It is formed by the AVUM Orbital Module (AOM) and the Re-entry Module (RM). AROBS Engineering will be the consortium leader responsible for the independent software verification and validation (ISVV), including technical specifications, architecture, code development, and testing systems validation for both modules.

AROBS and its partners will conduct the needed activities in order to help the SpaceRider mission ensure the quality of specification, design, coding and testing of the full set of the Central Software modules for both AOM and RM, covering the Service Layer and Application Software Layer.

Once separated from the AVUM Orbital Module, the reusable Space Rider Rentry Module, a so-called lifting body vehicle about the size of a minivan, will land within 150m accuracy under a steerable parachute known as a parafoil. The launch will be performed by the Vega-C rocket.

Space Rider will have the potential to allow the following:

• Free-flying applications such as experiments in microgravity for:
  • Pharmaceuticals
  • Biomedicine
  • Biology
  • Physical Science
• In-orbit technology demonstration and validation for applications for:
  • Exploration, such as robotics,
  • Earth observation, such as instrumentation,
  • others, such as Earth science, telecommunication,
• Surveillance applications such as Earth disaster monitoring and satellite inspection.

The vehicle is considered the future of European research in low-Earth orbit and microgravity, supporting technology development for materials, pharmaceuticals, Earth observation, and other fields. Space Rider will be an ideal platform for in-orbit validation and demonstration of new technologies.

After landing safely back on Earth, Space Rider will be refurbished for re-use, with each vehicle designed to make at least five re-flights, each lasting about two months. Up to 600 kg or 1,000 liters of payload can fit inside the environmentally controlled cargo bay. The inaugural flight is expected to take place towards the end of 2024.

Cosmin Stanciu, Business Group Manager, Aerospace expertise – AROBS Engineering: “Our partnership with ESA is of significant importance to us and we are very happy to see that the expertise we have gained in on-board software solution for space mission, in the last 10+ years, can now be used to further ensure the quality and reliability of new and exciting ESA spacecrafts.”

“This new project validates our colleagues’ high expertise in aerospace. I want to congratulate the AROBS Engineering team for this exceptional achievement. We are proud that they will be involved in a project with a significant impact on the future of the European aerospace industry,” stated Voicu Oprean, founder, and CEO of AROBS.

With 20+ years of experience in aerospace projects, AROBS Engineering will deliver custom software development for your project with an in-depth understanding of networking technology and solutions for the future of Avionics and Aerospace Systems.

In the consortia led by AROBS Engineering, teams from Intelligentia and Spazio IT, both Italian companies with extensive expertise in software development for the aerospace industry, are involved.

Recently, AROBS Engineering announced that it is one of the ClearSpace and the European Space Agency (ESA) industrial partners to deliver an embedded software solution for the ClearSpace-1 program. In 2020, ESA commissioned ClearSpace to build, launch, and fly a novel deorbit mission to rendezvous with and capture a large piece of debris in orbit, then safely pilot the object into Earth’s atmosphere.

Image of the Space Rider project:

Image: Space Rider https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2022/11/Space_Rider_parafoil#.ZB29V2-rOuQ.link, copyright ESA.

Disclaimer:

It must be noted that the view expressed above can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Space Agency.