ReFEx: Reusability Flight Experiment – A Project Overview

Abstract

The Reusability Flight Experiment will help gain a flight and design data on, as well as operational experience with, a winged first stage of a reusable launch vehicle. It was first presented at the EUCASS 2017 and has evolved significantly since then. ReFEx will launch in late 2022 as a technology demonstrator using a VSB-30 sounding rocket as carrier. Once launched and after reaching altitudes and velocities similar to a first staging event, the goal is to conduct a return flight along a trajectory comparable to returning winged first stage RLVs, transitioning from hypersonic speeds down to subsonic flight.