What actually happens in the spacecraft’s fiery final moments? This is a key question for the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Destructive Reentry Evaluation Container Object (Draco) mission.
ESA has given the go-ahead to a program to create a highly complex re-entry for a spacecraft specially built for diving. earth’s atmosphere Equipped with various sensors.
last moment
ESA strongly supports Ambitious zero debris approachan initiative aimed at preventing further space debris from being generated by reducing the risk of debris being generated by spacecraft collisions.
As part of this, ESA scientists are studying what happens when a satellite burns up. Holger Klug, ESA’s head of space safety, said reentry science is an essential part of an effort called “Designing for the End.”
“We need to gain further insight into what happens when a satellite burns up in the atmosphere and validate reentry models,” Klug said in the ESA. statement Focused on Draco’s initiative.
“That’s why the unique data collected by Draco will help guide the development of new technologies to build even more devastating satellites by 2030,” Cragg said.
strain gauge
Draco’s sensors measure temperature, measure strain on various parts of the satellite itself, and record ambient pressure. Four additional cameras will be pointed at the spacecraft to monitor the destruction and gather contextual information.
The Draco satellite, planned for 2027, is expected to weigh between 330 and 440 pounds (150 and 200 kilograms). Draco, which is about the size of a washing machine, purposefully drove a stake in an uninhabited area of the ocean just about 12 hours after entering Earth’s orbit.
violent frenzy
The 40 centimeter diameter capsule is equipped with 200 sensors and four cameras to record the frenzy, storing the data securely on board. Once the parachute is deployed, Draco connects to a geostationary satellite and outputs its data.
ESA planners say they have about 20 minutes to send the telemetry before it splashes out to sea and the Draco mission ends.
If all goes well, Draco will collect “real-world data” about what happens when space hardware heats up, shatters and scatters during atmospheric reentry. This is a process that researchers can only mimic on Earth today through wind tunnels or computer models.
“Understanding how different materials behave as they burn up could help engineers design satellites that completely disintegrate, leaving nothing in orbit or in the atmosphere,” ESA explains.
ablation products
The people who claim Draco’s data are experts on the front lines explaining space debris.
“Reentry raises several questions about the sustainability of the universe in general,” said Aaron Boley, a professor of physics and astronomy and co-director of the Space Institute at the University of British Columbia.
Boley told Space.com that if uncontrolled, it could pose a risk of death or injury to people on the ground or aboard the aircraft in flight, and could cause further disruption to air traffic if airspace were suddenly closed in response to a reentry.
“They also deposit ablation products directly into the upper atmosphere,” Boley said.
One approach to dealing with the risk of casualties is to design spacecraft to disappear completely, but Boley said this would exacerbate the air pollution problem. “Furthermore, reentry ablation models have not been well validated due to limitations in clinical testing.”
Complex issues: safety and pollution
Experiments that can monitor a satellite’s in-situ extinction and the types of ejected products produced upon reentry would be extremely valuable in addressing complex, interrelated issues of safety and contamination, Boley added.
Boley, who is not involved in the Draco project, said characterizing the types of ablation products is a “high priority” so researchers can “better understand how reentry emissions affect upper atmosphere aerosols and associated chemicals, and their effects on ozone, climate balance, upper atmosphere polar clouds, and atmospheric penetration.”
puzzle pieces
Leonard Schulz is a researcher at the Institute for Geophysics and Extraterrestrial Physics at the Technical University of Braunschweig in Braunschweig, Germany.
Schultz, who is also not involved in ESA’s Draco project, said he would be eagerly awaiting the outcome of the project.
“In-situ measurements are one of the key pieces of the missing puzzle to better understand destructive spacecraft atmospheric entry and its effects on the atmosphere,” he told Space.com.
“We look forward to the results of this mission. Hopefully, this will provide a pathway for in-situ observations of spacecraft fragmentation, particularly its ablative behavior,” Schultz said.
Related data
Luciano Anselmo, a researcher at the Space Flight Dynamics Laboratory at the National Research Council’s Institute of Information Science and Technology in Pisa, Italy, has a similar view.
Draco will be a single reentry spacecraft with a specific trajectory, mass and design, Anselmo said.
Anselmo, who is not involved in the Draco project, told Space.com that the experiment aims to be as representative as possible and, if successful, will allow for the collection of a lot of relevant data.
“Not only could this data prove to be much more generally applicable than originally thought, but it could also reveal something unexpected and spur new research,” Anselmo said.