They plan to learn more about how satellites break up as they crash back to Earth.
Roughly 200 sensors and four infrared mini-cameras will measure and capture the disintegration process that DRACO will undergo until it self-destructs on re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere – Graphic: ESA
The European Space Agency plans to launch and then let a test satellite return to Earth in an uncontrolled manner. The Destructive Reentry Assessment Container Object (DRACO) will be built by the Spanish company Deimos and is currently planned to fly to space no earlier than 2027.
During this test flight, ESA plans to collect multiple data sets during DRACO’s reentry and breakup from the inside to determine how the satellite breaks apart during the trip back to Earth. This will, in turn, inform the organization and others on best practices for satellite design. While the test satellite article is purposely expendable, it will contain a capsule designed to survive the destruction of reentry. Later, the capsule will return data to ESA scientists.
The data is vital for ESA: it has committed to a Zero Debris approach to satellite design, with an implementation target of 2030. Announced in June 2023 by ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher, Zero Debris plans to eliminate the addition of space debris in orbit and to limit debris falling on Earth’s surface.
Photo: The Glamping Collective
“We are seeing a dramatically increased use of space, but still insufficient technology to prevent the risks that follow. Our aim to become debris neutral in just a few years will require clearing precious Earth orbits once a mission is complete, and if the mission fails to do this, it must be actively removed by dedicated vehicles,” explains Holger Krag, ESA’s Head of Space Safety.
“We are aiming for rules that compare to every national park on Earth – what you bring in you must take with you when you leave.”
A 1.6 lb metal object punched through the roof and two layers of ceiling of Alejandro Otero’s home. The object was part of a pallet of old nickel-hydrogen batteries that was released from the ISS in 2021. The pallet was expected to burn up as it reentered Earth’s atmosphere, but one piece survived.
Photo: NASA
What Exactly Is DRACO?
Not to be confused with the SpaceX Dragon thrusters using the same name, DRACO is planned for an initial cost of about three million Euros and will be built with specific shapes and manufacturing techniques that ESA is interested in testing. Weighing roughly 170 and 200 kilos (375-440 pounds), according to ESA, it will be roughly the size of a washing machine.
DRACO is planned to fly initially to an altitude of about 500 kilometers (~311 miles) and will begin its return and its true mission shortly after achieving the target orbit. It will be equipped with hardened sensors that will ostensibly last as long as possible during the reentry test sequence and providing data to a hardened capsule designed to survive all the way back to the surface of the Earth. Once there, the data capsule will transmit its contents to ESA scientists for analysis.
According to Deimos, “The insights gained from this mission are expected to be instrumental in advancing early fragmentation and design-for-demise (D4D) technologies, which are pivotal to ESA’s Zero Debris approach and the future of sustainable space activities.
“Holger Krag, ESA Head of Space Safety, said: “The DRACO mission is part of ESA’s Zero Debris approach. We need to gain more insight into what happens when satellites burn up in the atmosphere as well as validate our re-entry models. The data collected by DRACO will help guide the development of new technologies to build more demisable space systems by 2030. We look forward to making the mission a reality together with Deimos as our prime contractor.”
More About DRACO
ESA has published slides from a DRACO presentation, which is shown below. Interested readers may download the PDF using the link below, or view its contents here.
