ARD capsule is hoisted for inspection and expertise

After its flight, ESA's Atmospheric Reentry Demonstrator (ARD) capsule is hoisted for inspection and expertise at Aerospatiale's facilities in Bordeaux where it was integrated. The main heatshield showed only minor erosion of about 0.1 to 0.3 mm. The 2,716-kg ARD was released onto a nearly orbital trajectory during the third and last Ariane 5 qualification flight on October 21, 1998. This mission (V112) also carried the MaqSat 3 instrumented dummy payload. The ARD was successfully released on a ballistic trajectory with an apogee of 830 km. It then entered the atmosphere at a velocity exceeding 27,000 km/h and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean 101 minutes after the launch, south-east of Hawaii and north-east of the French Marquesas Islands (3.90°N, 134.0°E). This technological mission successfully demonstrated piloted reentry and high precision landing, with an achieved accuracy of 4.9 km. The 2.8-m diameter unmanned ARD capsule was developed for ESA by an industrial team led by Aerospatiale (now EADS-ST) to study the physical environment of reentry bodies and demonstrate various reentry technologies such as new aerothermodynamic algorithms; navigation, guidance and control systems; and radio communications. The heatshield also included samples of new thermal protection materials. The ARD flight provided Europe with key expertise in developing future space transportation and launch vehicles.