The President of the Government announced today that the Azores were the place chosen by the European Space Agency (ESA) as the landing site for the "Space Rider," which will generate qualified employment.
 
"I can announce that the Government received yesterday the news that the Azores have been chosen by the European Space Agency to be the landing site for the "Space Rider" project. It will create qualified jobs, both in terms of services and resources allocated to this project," said Vasco Cordeiro. The President of the Government spoke at the plenary session of the Legislative Assembly taking place in the city of Horta.
 
This ESA project aims to provide Europe with an integrated, accessible, independent and reusable space transportation system for access and return.
 
The Azores, through the Space Mission Coordinator, will be represented in the ESA working group. It will visit the Region in April with the purpose of analysing the potential sites that may serve this project.
 
This working group will be responsible for identifying infrastructure needs in the development of the "Space Rider" as well as for assessing the need for new buildings given the specificities of the project.
 
The "Space Rider" will be launched aboard Vega-C from Kourou, French Guiana, and will carry payloads for various purposes. Its predecessor was launched on a suborbital flight in February 2015, having landed at sea.
 
Hence, ESA fills a gap in its area of operations that, until recently, did not include the autonomous return from space. Now, it involves the Azores in one of the most critical phases of operations - the landing phase.
 
This activity will use high-end technologies to control the vehicle in hypersonic flight conditions. In this context, the Space Rider has great potential for experimentation in various scenarios such as the study of microgravity, radiation exposure, Earth observation, among others.
 
The activities to be developed at the landing site to be chosen in the Region will involve telemetry and remote control of the vehicle, recording and archiving of data, post-flight data processing and distribution, emergency management and control, atmosphere reentry control and landing of the vehicle.