Europe’s space agency will destroy a brand-new satellite in 2027 just to see what happens
An illustration of DRACO getting destroyed in Earth’s atmosphere. | Image: ESA
The European Space Agency (ESA) plans to launch a satellite into Earth’s orbit in 2027 to watch it get wrecked as it reenters the atmosphere. The project is intended to help understand how exactly satellites break apart so that scientists can learn how to prevent the creation of more space debris.
Space junk is becoming a bigger problem as we send more satellites into orbit, but there are efforts to try and address it. This mission is part of the ESA’s Zero Debris Charter initiative to stop the creation of additional space debris by 2030.
The mission is called the Destructive Reentry Assessment Container Object (DRACO), and the insides of the satellite will collect data as the craft gets destroyed during reentry into the atmosphere. It...