Design for Demise | ESA’s New Initiatives for Safer Re-Entry

ESA has recently issued two Invitation to Tender (ITT), inviting industry experts to participate in initiatives aimed at enhancing the demisability of spacecraft during atmospheric re-entry.

The first activity, titled ‘Demisability of Optical Communication Terminals for Satcom Constellations in LEO’, calls upon experts to investigate the demise behaviour of different optical communication terminals for current and future applications on-board Stacom platforms in LEO. It also involves the development of prototypes of the design for demise solutions and technologies identified to mitigate on-ground casualty risks associated with these components.

Satellite in fire
Credits: ESA/Sacha Berna

The project focuses on optical communication terminals and includes the following engineering tasks:

Identifying the critical items/materials (e.g., optics), and events (e.g., fragmentation process) characterising the demise process of optical communication terminals.
Performing demise tests on equipment/materials to validate and improve the accuracy of the simulations as well as to propose design for demise solutions.
Developing prototypes of the design for demise techniques and demisable technologies to address critical aspects previously identified, with the aim of implementing them in optical communication terminals crucial for LEO satcom.

The second activity, named ‘Demisable Primary Structural Joints for Low Earth Orbit Telecom Platforms’, invites experts to design, manufacture and test demisable primary structural joints suitable for future LEO satellite communication platforms.

Demisable joints
Credits: ESA/Sacha Berna

Both initiatives are geared towards reducing on-ground casualty risks during spacecraft re-entry and ensuring platform compliance with on-ground casualty risk requirements. These efforts underscore ESA’s commitment to the zero debris approach, which aims to eliminate the debris production in Earth orbits by 2030.

The Invitation to Tender ‘Demisable Primary Structural Joints for Low Earth Orbit Telecom Platforms’ remains open until 08.03.2024, while the ‘Demisability of Optical Communication Terminals for Satcom Constellations in LEO’, is open until 01.03.2024.