A Vestigo Aerospace Spinnaker drag sail unit. Photo: Vestigo Aerospace

Applied Aerospace & Defense has acquired Vestigo Aerospace, which is known for its line of drag sails used to deorbit satellites. 

The company’s Spinnaker line of drag sails are designed to deorbit cubesats, small satellites, orbital transfer vehicles, and launch vehicle upper stages. The drag sails are thin deployable structures that work by increasing aerodynamic drag and accelerating orbital decay. 

The acquisition announced Tuesday was a private transaction and financial terms were not disclosed.

David Myers, senior vice president of Marketing and Strategy for Applied Aerospace & Defense, told Via Satellite that the acquisition was driven by the FCC’s five-year deorbit rule, which the commission implemented in 2022. The FCC also proposed new FAA regulations for upper stage launch vehicles, which Myers said represent emerging regulatory requirements that will impact all  space launch and satellite systems operators. 

“As an advanced manufacturer to the space and defense industry, Applied made a strategic decision to invest in new technologies that will enable compliance with emerging regulations and help to preserve the invisible natural resource of near-Earth orbit,” Myers told Via Satellite.

Vestigo Aerospace founder and CEO Dr. David Spencer will join Applied as the company’s new vice president of deployable systems. Dr. Spencer previously served as a planetary mission designer, system engineer, and mission operations manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

Prior to this acquisition, Applied was a supplier for Vestigo Aerospace to supply advanced materials for thin-film polymer sails and the deployable booms used in its products.

Applied Aerospace and Defense was recently formed through the merger of Applied Aerospace and PCX Aerosystems. The company is a supplier of precision hardware and systems for aircraft, rotorcraft, satellites, launch vehicles, and missile defense.