The European Space Agency (ESA) plans to launch a satellite into Earth orbit in 2027 to specifically observe the debris when it re-enters the atmosphere. The project aims to help understand how satellites break up so that scientists can learn how to prevent more space debris.
As we put more and more satellites into orbit, space debris is becoming a bigger and bigger problem, but one we are also working hard to solve. The mission is part of ESA's ZeroDebrisCharter initiative, which aims to stop the creation of more space debris by 2030.
The mission, called the Destructive Reentry Assessment Container Object (DRACO), will collect data inside the satellite as the spacecraft is destroyed during reentry. It will also contain a 40cm-long capsule that can survive destruction and transmit collected data as the capsule moves toward the ocean.
Aerospace engineering company Deimos was contracted to build DRACO, which is about the size of a washing machine and weighs about 200 kilograms (441 pounds). It will contain 200 sensors and four cameras, but no propulsion or navigation systems. According to an ESA press release, most space debris returning to Earth is uncontrollable, and the key is to approximate an average re-entry process.
Obtaining data before the capsule hits the water is critical to the mission, and may present challenges such as trying to deploy a parachute while tumbling through the air. ESA said it will have 20 minutes to collect data.