Europe to launch inflatable satellite drag sail

A European consortium led by Portuguese startup Spaceo has secured a contract from the European Space Agency (ESA) to test an inflatable drag sail in space, with plans to demonstrate the technology by 2028.

The €3 million ($3.3 million) funding, announced on March 18, will support the development of the SWIFT (Spacecraft With Inflatable Termination) project, which aims to swiftly deorbit satellites after their missions, Caliber.Az reports, citing SpaceNews.

The system, designed to rapidly increase atmospheric drag, will be tested on a small satellite in low Earth orbit (LEO). Spaceo, a two-year-old startup, is spearheading the initiative, with French payload provider SpaceLocker managing the integration of the drag sail onto the satellite. Danish small satellite specialist GomSpace will provide the host satellite, while SolidFlow from the Netherlands is responsible for developing the gas generator necessary to inflate the sail.

SWIFT is designed to be initially compact—just 20 square centimetres—before expanding by approximately 7,500 times to a surface area of 1.5 square meters. This inflation increases the satellite’s atmospheric drag, accelerating its descent and facilitating deorbiting. Spaceo CEO João Loureiro explained that the system would reduce the satellite’s altitude from 500 to 400 kilometres in less than a year, with a complete deorbit expected within 14 to 16 months. Without SWIFT, the satellite would typically take around 10 years to burn up in the atmosphere.

While the system is being tested on a 12U cubesat (20 x 20 x 30 centimetres, weighing 20 kilograms), Loureiro noted that the technology could be scaled for use on larger satellites, up to 200 kilograms.

Unlike satellites that rely on onboard propulsion for deorbiting—requiring operational status and consuming valuable fuel—SWIFT is designed to activate even if the satellite fails or malfunctions, offering a fail-safe for end-of-life disposal.

This initiative follows similar efforts in the industry, including the March 15 launch of Vestigo Aerospace’s Sphinx drag sail demonstrator. The Sphinx, deployed as part of SpaceX’s Transporter-13 rideshare mission, uses lightweight booms to deploy its Spinnaker drag sail. Vestigo’s system is expected to achieve deorbit in just 16 days after deployment at an altitude of 500 kilometres, with the combined spacecraft weighing just over 33 kilograms and measuring 39 x 47 x 71 centimetres.

By Khagan Isayev