Payload weights up to 2500Kg
Landing accuracy better than 50m
Fully reusable
Founded in 2015, the UK SME, NewSpace Systems Ltd, supported by the UK Space Agency, has recently been awarded a contract from ESA under the Agency’s GSTP program. This contract looks to expand on the company’s existing Glide2 GPS cargo delivery system concept by defining the architecture for a GPS-guided parafoil system targeted at the precision recovery/return of payloads, rocket boosters and space vehicles from space.
The Glide2 system, which enables cargo delivery to within fifty meters of a predefined landing site from high altitudes, lends itself to a myriad of applications from space and defense to telemedical and disaster relief. To expand on this the study, enabled by the GSTP funding, will examine the possible extension of the existing concept and architecture to be adapted for the return of a payload from space to a predefined landing zone, as well as novel methods of obtaining improved landing accuracy.
The simulation work under this contract will be done by Vorticity Ltd, another UK SME. Vorticity’s part in the study advances European capability for parafoil system design and simulation, which may be used to support future missions involving parafoils. Based on the result of the study, the aim is to develop a proof-of-concept demonstrator by the end of 2024 that is capable of returning payloads up to 2500kg.
MD of NewSpace Systems Ltd, Mr John Moth, stated, “This awarded GSTP funding is further evidence of the appetite for reusability within both the space industry and more broadly. Not only will this study allow us to develop a range of products aimed at the rapidly expanding reusability market, but it will also propel NewSpace Systems into new industries.”