00:00What happens to a satellite when it falls back to Earth and burns up?
00:04We don't fully know.
00:14Meet DRACO, the European Space Agency's fiery re-entry mission,
00:19made to decipher the destruction of satellites.
00:22ESA's space safety program wants to lower the risk of fragments surviving
00:26when satellites re-enter the atmosphere and better understand their effect on it.
00:32New satellites should be designed for demise,
00:36built to disintegrate safely, cleanly and completely when its mission ends.
00:41Yet, even with testing on the ground,
00:44crucial input based on real-life data of how the break-up process works is missing, for now.
00:51ESA's DRACO will go through a typical chaotic and uncontrolled re-entry
00:55while recording its own fiery demise in detail.
00:59DRACO will have 200 sensors and four cameras on board to witness its re-entry
01:04over an uninhabited area of ocean, just hours after launch.
01:09The data will get stored within a hardened capsule
01:12until the satellite is destroyed and the capsule released.
01:17A plane filled with scientists and instruments will record the event from nearby.
01:24Once stable at the right altitude, the capsule will open its parachute
01:28and quickly transmit the collected data to a satellite before splashing into the ocean.
01:34DRACO's data will improve re-entry modeling and design-for-demise technologies,
01:39maintaining European leadership in sustainable spaceflight.
01:47your own discharge can also be established.
02:04The satellite will be proven buffed in the ocean.
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