Exo-Brake Enables Safe Return for Small Spacecraft

NASA's Exo-Brake is a critical technology that can potentially help science payloads return to Earth from the International Space Station through the deployment of small spacecraft. 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. It is a deorbit device that replaces the more complicated rocket-based systems that would normally be employed during the deorbit phase of re-entry.