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.
Spacecraft 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.
See also List of European Space Agency programmes and missions List of space debris fall incidents QARMAN
References
External links David, Leonard (31 January 2026), What actually happens to a spacecraft during its fiery last moments? Here's why ESA wants to find out, Space.com, archived from the original on 31 January 2026