Lingering orbital debris presents a growing hazard to spacecraft operations in Earth orbit. Therefore, it is imperative that when spacecraft cease operations, they be deorbited. Although spacecraft in low Earth orbit generally deorbit themselves due to aerodynamic drag, satellites orbiting above 700 km can take over 150 years to descend without assistance. Consequently, tech that will deorbit spacecraft by design are of great interest. The magnetic sail, or magsail, is a new technology co-invented by Robert Zubrin and Dana Andrews that can be used for deorbiting spacecraft much more efficiently due to having a mass two orders of magnitude less than that which would be required employing solar sails or balloon film like
materials for deorbiting. Because the near-term benefits and future potential of magsails are so profound, Robert Zubrin, alongside his company Pioneer Astronautics, has proposed a Phase 1 SBIR program to take the technology rapidly towards flight status. While the theory checks out, the magsail's deployment procedure is in urgent need of development to move closer towards flight status.