ESA Draco mission clears design review for 2027 reentry

The spacecraft has not yet flown, but its design has crossed the checkpoint that stands between plans and hardware. ESA’s Draco mission passed its Critical Design Review, clearing the way for full-scale manufacturing, integration and testing ahead of a planned 2027 launch.

The review, announced by ESA on 17 August, validated the design of all Draco systems. The next campaign will include high-altitude balloon drop tests. Spain’s Indra Group is leading development after taking responsibility for the mission through its acquisition of Deimos Space in October 2024; ESA had awarded Deimos a €17 million development contract the month before.

Draco is built to observe a spacecraft’s destruction rather than avoid it. Its launch vehicle’s upper stage is planned to place it on a destructive reentry trajectory at approximately 1,000 kilometres. About 12 hours after liftoff, nearly 200 sensors and four cameras will record how the satellite breaks apart and burns in the atmosphere, storing the measurements inside a 40-centimetre reentry capsule.

And so, concretely, the mission could give ESA better data for the models used to predict spacecraft fragmentation and burn-up during reentry. The capsule will deploy a parachute, connect through a geostationary satellite and transmit the results during a roughly 20-minute window before splashing down. Those outcomes remain planned: Draco has cleared design review, but its manufacturing, testing, launch and destructive reentry are still ahead.