Reusable 'Susie' spacecraft could launch future European deep-space missions - Space.com

ArianeGroup's 'Susie' is a fully reusable craft designed to fit future rockets, one of which is being made right now for Arianespace.

Rocket-launching firm ArianeGroup plans to bring astronauts to space aboard 'Susie.'.

The upper stage is called Susie (Smart Upper Stage for Innovative Exploration) and will be mounted on the forthcoming Ariane 64 rocket, which the company says will herald fully reusable rockets in the coming years.

As the space community reaches for private space stations and moon missions, ArianeGroup said a flexible, reusable and modular spacecraft would best fit the needs of multiple clients.

Payload capacity could flex as required for "essential missions in space", which ArianeGroup suggests will continue to increase as NASA and its partners reach for crewed Artemis program missions on the moon in the coming decade.

Following missions, Susie would come back to Earth for a soft landing and would be repurposed for future flights, as the spacecraft is fully reusable.

Further in the future, Susie fits into the European Space Agency's vision of reusable, modular launchers under the New European Space Transportation Solutions (NESTS) initiative, which seeks to build launchers around common building blocks to save on cost and development. .

Depending on mission needs, ArianeGroup said future missions will fly to space hubs and then on to their destination, rather than directly point to point.

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Elizabeth's on-site reporting includes two human spaceflight launches from Kazakhstan, three space shuttle missions in Florida, and embedded reporting from a simulated Mars mission in Utah.

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