Space tech company lands funding for dragsail tech developed at Purdue

September 12, 2022

Tuesday, September 13, 2022 12:24 PM EDTUpdated: Tuesday, September 13, 2022 01:23 PM EDT
By Alex Brown, Assistant Managing Editor
Purdue University engineers conduct deployment testing with a Spinnaker3 dragsail prototype. (photo courtesy David Spencer/Vestigo Aerospace)
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - A Purdue University-affiliated space technology company has closed on a $375,000 seed funding round along with a matching grant from NASA, the university announced Monday. Vestigo Aerospace says it will use the funding to begin the commercial manufacturing process for its line of dragsails. The seed round featured an investment from Los Angeles-based strategic investment firm Manhattan West. That funding is being matched by NASA through a Small Business Innovative Research Phase II-Extended award. Vestigo was founded by CEO David Spencer, an adjunct associate professor in Purdue’s School of Aeronautics and Astronautics and former director of the Space Flight Projects Laboratory. The university says Vestigo’s dragsails are designed to “enable the timely deorbit of space vehicles, including CubeSats, small satellites and launch vehicle upper stages.” The company says its Spinnaker line of dragsails allows space vehicles to meet regulatory guidelines for deorbit duration. “The Spinnaker product line of dragsails addresses the growing need for reliable end-of-mission deorbit capability in order to maintain the sustainability of low-Earth orbit,” Spencer said in written remarks. “Bolt-on dragsails represent an ‘ounce of prevention’ approach to the orbital debris problem that, if left unchecked, could halt the growth of the orbital economy.” Vestigo licensed the dragsail technology through the Purdue Research Foundation of Office Technology Commercialization. The company expects initial sales of its dragsail line to begin in 2023.