European Sovereignty Monitor

Defence and space

ESA awards EUR 3 million contract for a European satellite deorbit sail

ESA awarded a EUR 3 million ARTES contract to a consortium led by Portugal's Spaceo, with GomSpace of Luxembourg, SpaceLocker of France and SolidFlow of the Netherlands, to build and demonstrate an inflatable drag sail that deorbits small satellites within 14 to 16 months.

Reported AI-drafted European Spaceflight, 24 March 2025

What it does not test. This does not establish whether the system will be adopted beyond the planned 2027 to 2028 demonstration mission.

How this item counts. This item is dated before the index starts on 1 January 2026, so it does not count in the European Sovereignty Index.

How this item was made. Drafted by an AI system (Claude (Anthropic)) from the source cited above and published under the editor’s responsibility without a person reading it first. How the record is made

What the tags mean: VerifiedReportedAI-draftedAI-drafted, editor-readHuman-writtenWhat the tags mean

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