Airbus's DETUMBLER wins first large-scale commercial satellite order
MDA Space picked Airbus's passive DETUMBLER device for its Aurora LEO constellation, the first large commercial passive-detumbling order.
what happened
Airbus says MDA Space has selected its DETUMBLER, a roughly 200-gram passive magnetic damping device, for MDA's AURORA LEO satellite constellation, SpaceNews reports. The device uses eddy currents induced by Earth's magnetic field to stop a tumbling satellite without power or attitude-control actuators, reducing a 3-degree-per-second spin to 0.75 degrees per second within a year on platforms from about 150 kg to 1.5 tons. Airbus says the device is TRL 8 and now commercially available.
why it matters
Tumbling satellites are harder and costlier to capture for active debris removal; a passive, power-free stabilizer any operator can bolt on before end-of-life takes that cost out of the loop entirely. MDA's order is the first at constellation scale, giving active-debris-removal providers a cheaper target population to plan against as more LEO constellations adopt it.
for who
active debris removal and satellite servicing providers