ESA To Launch DRACO Satellite in 2027 to Study Satellite Reentry Disintegration

The ESA has planned a first-in-class mission in 2027, namely based on a satellite specifically designed to study the breakup of objects reentering Earth’s atmosphere. Mission DRACO stands for Destructive Reentry Assessment Container Object, an important step for the technology development foreseen by the ESA in the limit of the production of space debris. Breaking apart on its re-entry, this spacecraft Deimos has been awarded by ESA to European technology company, the information gathered from it will prove highly valuable, enabling scientists to understand how breakup occurs and what it means environmentally as well.

Understanding Satellite Breakup

The DRACO mission is intended for collecting data as satellites burn up when reentering Earth. In this regard, scientists intend to make future satellites that completely burn up on entering Earth’s atmosphere, thus reducing the likelihood of debris hitting Earth.

The DRACO mission will explore the reentry impact of spacecraft on the Earth’s atmosphere as well. This includes what materials create byproducts with the atmosphere and which byproducts are formed.

Unique DRACO Design

DRACO will be of the size of a washing machine, weighing 200 kilograms. The design with breaking apart into pieces like a satellite does normally ensures that the capsule survives during re-entry. The size of this capsule is 40 centimeters and contains four cameras and 200 sensors meant to record data considered important as the breakup occurs. After re-entry, it will open a parachute, transmit its information, and become lost in the sea.

Advancing Zero Debris Technology

“It will be instrumental in supporting the development of future satellite technology,” noted Holger Krag, ESA’s Head of Space Safety. The data it collects is to help develop more demisable satellites built by 2030 under ESA’s Zero Debris charter, which envisions the halt of creating space debris in this decade.

The head of ESA’s space debris office, Tim Flohrer, added that the mission is pretty important in assisting to advance zero-debris technologies, given the continually increasing number of satellite launches throughout the world.