ESA Space Debris project - Draco

The Destructive Reentry Assessment Container Object, or 'Draco' mission is a debris reentry experiment. Its main goal is to measure the representative break-up of a spacecraft in the space environment with a small platform and demonstrate prototyped reentry safety applications. A dedicated flight experiment will reduce uncertainties in the breakup and demise processes. The physics of the destructive break-up process of large space objects in Earth's atmosphere is poorly understood so far. Ground experiments are limited in size and not fully representative. Whereas remote and in situ observations are beyond rudimentary predictive capabilities. The Draco experiment will transmit data directly and be the world's first demonstration of a controlled break-up process to extrapolate ground test to flight. The mission objectives assume the representative satellite platform of about 150 kg on a controlled reentry trajectory (max. four days in orbit) instrumented to record destructive break-up. The mission is planned to be launched in 2027 on an Ariane 6, Vega any credible European microlauncher. The system needs to include the instrument calibration for break-up events, such as visual and IR cameras, wind tunnel sensors, direct instrumentation within the spacecraft, connected to survivable capsule.