Welcome to Gama's New Blog!

Gama Is Turning Five - What a Journey It Has Been

The world of space has transformed, and so have we. As we approach this milestone, we’re excited to share how far we’ve come and where we’re headed next.
Gama was founded to transform deep-space exploration with advanced solar sails - giant, mirror-like structures propelled by sunlight. By harnessing this limitless energy source, we’re working to make space travel more affordable and accessible for everyone. Stay tuned for future posts, where we’ll dive deeper into how solar sails will shape the next era of exploration.

From Bold Ideas to Real-World Impact

Building and deploying a massive mirror in space is no small feat. Every step, from selecting the right materials to designing reliable deployment mechanisms, has pushed our team’s ingenuity to the limit. In just two years, we launched Gama Alpha, our first solar sail demonstrator, into orbit. Despite challenges with full deployment, the mission advanced our expertise in developing large, functional space structures, prompting us to build a lot of unique ground infrastructure, as well as navigation and control algorithms to control these structures.

Tackling Space’s Next Big Challenge: Space Debris

While working on our next mission, Gama Beta, we understood there was an urgent need for space debris solutions. In just five years, the number of satellites in orbit almost tripled from 5,000 to over 14,000, and that’s not counting fragmented debris. ESA estimates the number of objects larger than 10cm in Earth orbit to be 54,000, and 1.2 million objects between 1 and 10cm. For those who want to dive deeper into the topic of space debris and what’s at risk, we recommend reading ESA's Space Environment Statistics page.

With new regulations requiring satellites to deorbit within 5 years (down from 25), reliable end-of-life solutions have become critical for the entire industry.

Why We Care

Academics and space agencies have known there was a risk of runaway collisions in the most valuable orbits for many years. And while humans are good at extracting value from shared resources, we are less good at making sure this is done sustainability for future generations to benefit. We care because our life on Earth is vastly improved with navigation, earth observation and communication satellites in orbit today. We care because much of the data to understand our planet and our climate comes from Earth observation satellites. This must be protected.

Gama’s Answer: Astrobrake Drag Sails

Leveraging our experience with deployable structures, we expanded our focus from solar sails to “drag sails”, devices that use atmospheric drag in low-Earth orbit to safely deorbit satellites. A drag sail is like a solar sail but has a different purpose. Instead of using the sun’s photons to move through space, it makes use of its large surface to create a decelerating force in the thin atmosphere at those altitudes, like a parachute.

Our first product, Astrobrake-S, is optimized for satellites up to 100kg, with a commercial flight set for Q3 2025. Next up is Astrobrake-L for larger satellites and other large space structures. These systems offer a reliable, autonomous, and cost-effective way to comply with new regulations and keep space accessible for all.

We believe that reliability is key for the end-of-life of satellites. Our goal is to develop the most reliable system in the industry, and we’re working on Astrobrake-S Gen1, with many updates and improvements, such as a larger sail size and longer autonomy.

Dragsails won’t necessarily replace electric propulsion or other deorbiting devices, but serve as an affordable way to comply with tightening global regulations. Through an autonomous design, Astrobrake will deorbit the spacecraft even if it is lost, keeping space clean, independently of any other subsystem failure.

For customers interested in our drag-sail systems, we also provide support with Sextant, our in-house mission analysis software. This software generates re-entry predictions based on the expected orbit and passivation date, and the necessary reports required to comply with evolving global regulations, helping operators select the right solution for their mission profile.

Looking Ahead

Our dream to sail the heavenly breezes is alive and well. Our next solar sail demonstrator, Gama Beta, is on our roadmap, and we’ll soon unveil a European mission using solar sails to monitor solar storms. We’re proud to be leading the way in large deployable structures, driving innovation for both exploration and sustainability in space.

Join us on this journey—follow our blog, visit our website, and connect with us on LinkedIn for regular updates. The future of space is here, and we’re just getting started.