Europe develops inflatable drag sail for satellite deorbiting

A group of European companies has received funding to test a new inflatable drag sail in space by 2028. This sail is designed to help satellites quickly fall back to Earth after they finish their missions. Portugal's Startup Spaceo is leading this initiative. On March 18, they announced a contract worth 3 million euros, about $3.3 million, from the European Space Agency for the project, known as SWIFT (Spacecraft With Inflatable Termination). The drag sail will be integrated into a small satellite by French company SpaceLocker, while Dutch firm GomSpace will provide the satellite itself. The Netherlands-based SolidFlow will create the gas generator needed to inflate the sail. The drag sail starts at a small size of 20 square centimeters but inflates to about 1.5 square meters. This larger size increases the atmospheric drag, helping the satellite to descend faster. Spaceo's CEO, João Loureiro, stated that this system can reduce the satellite’s altitude from 500 kilometers to 400 kilometers in less than a year, with complete deorbit in about 14 to 16 months. Without this system, the satellite would take roughly 10 years to burn up naturally. The drag sail will be fitted to a 12U cubesat, a small satellite measuring 20 x 20 x 30 centimeters and weighing 20 kilograms. The design can also be adapted for larger satellites weighing up to 200 kilograms. Many satellites now use their own propulsion to lower their orbits for deorbiting. However, this can waste fuel and requires the satellite to be functional at the end of its mission. Loureiro noted that the SWIFT system would work even if the satellite has failed or malfunctioned. On March 15, another company, California-based Vestigo Aerospace, launched a similar drag sail called Sphinx during a SpaceX mission. Unlike SWIFT, Sphinx uses lightweight booms to deploy. Vestigo plans to deploy its drag sail in late April, expecting to deorbit within just 16 days. The Sphinx spacecraft was also launched from about 500 kilometers above Earth.