Draco (space mission)
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| Mission type | Space sustainability |
|---|---|
| Operator | ESA |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Manufacturer | Deimos Space |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 2027 (planned) |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric |
| Altitude | < 100 km |
 ESA insignia | |
Draco (Destructive Reentry Assessment Container Object) is a future spaceflight experiment under development by the European Space Agency (ESA) for launch in 2027. Draco will use a small space capsule to monitor the breakup process of a satellite reentering Earth atmosphere. The project, part of ESA's Space Safety Programme, aims to help the agency's space sustainability-related plans to build more "demisable" satellites that disintegrate entirely during reentry without generating space debris, limiting the environmental impact of spaceflight.[1][2][3][4][5][6]
The Draco satellite, with no propulsion of its own, will be placed into a very low Earth orbit below 100 km of altitude for a rapid uncontrolled reentry within 12 hours. The process of its demise will be monitored by 200 sensors and 4 cameras sending their data to a 40 cm space capsule designed to survive the reentry and transmit all the data during its parachute descent towards ocean landing.[7][8][9]
