NASA Develops Safer And Accurate Technology, Enables To Send Science Payloads From ISS

NASA is currently developing a novel technology called Exo-Brake. It will undergo a series of tests, and if successful, it would allow science payloads coming from the International Space Station (ISS) return to the Earth, land accurately and safely.

NASA officials said in a statement that the novel technology called the Exo-Brake is a tension-based flexible braking device resembling a cross-parachute that deploys from the rear of a satellite to increase the drag. The technology could allow guided and accurate landing of payloads.

The Exo-Brake was developed and tested by the engineers at NASA's Ames Research Center in California. The statement added that, "It is a de-orbit device that replaces the more complicated rocket-based systems that would normally be employed during the de-orbit phase of re-entry."

The Technical Education nano-satellite (TechEdSat-5) packs the Exo-Brake system and delivered to the space station aboard the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency's robotic H-II Transfer Vehicle 6 last Dec. 13. Thus, the de-orbit device will undergo a test run when the nano-satellite is deployed from the orbiting lab in the early months of 2017.

The principal investigator and inventor of the Exo-Brake device, Marcus Murbach, mentioned in a statement that,  "The Exo-Brake's current design uses a hybrid system of mechanical struts and flexible cord with a control system that 'warps' the Exo-Brake -- much like how the Wright brothers used warping to control the flight behavior of their first wing design."

Furthermore, to guide the craft to a choice of atmospheric entry point, the engineers will be using a real-time simulation of the spacecraft's orbital trajectory. They are hoping that it will be accurate and safely lands, according to Space.com.

Meanwhile, the earlier version of the Exo-Brake technology has already been tested. The engineers use balloons and suborbital rockets to test the technology.

NASA officials added that, "In addition to the goal of returning samples from the space station, the project seeks to develop 'building blocks' for larger-scale systems that might enable future small or nanosatellite missions to reach the surface of Mars and other planetary bodies in the solar system."