The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
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Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
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A GSTP activity is developing a subsystem that will recognise as soon as the satellite has come to the end of its mission or has failed, for example if it has had no signal for a month. It will then slowly unfurl a large aluminium-coated polyamide membrane, attached to four carbon-fibre reinforced booms. This membrane acts as a sail, to create a drag effect causing the spacecraft to decrease its orbit much faster, catching at the atmosphere to slow the worn-out spacecraft enough that it will burn up entirely. A process that can take quite long, depending on the spacecraft – up to 25 years.
This image shows such a subsystem undergoing mechanical tests at DLR in Bremen.