ESA tests Draco heat shield in Belgium for reentry study
ESA just put its new Draco mission heat shield through a fiery test in Belgium, making sure it can handle the brutal heat of re-entering Earth's atmosphere.
This is a big step for the mission, which launches soon and aims to learn more about how satellites break apart when they fall back to Earth.
Draco must balance survivability and breakup
Draco (short for Destructive Reentry Assessment Container Object) is designed to burn up on purpose while collecting data on how satellites disintegrate. The tricky part? Making sure its capsule survives the ride.
As Draco project manager Stijn Lemmens put it, "Our biggest design challenge lies in meeting two contrasting requirements."
The info from Draco could help future satellites break up more safely, meaning less space junk and lower risk of collisions in orbit.