NASA launches a robotic mission to rescue its falling Swift telescope
NASA has begun a first-of-its-kind attempt to save a working space telescope from reentry. On Friday, Katalyst Space Technologies’ “Link” spacecraft launched from the Marshall Islands aboard a Northrop Grumman Pegasus rocket, air-dropped from a carrier aircraft, on a course to reach the Swift Observatory in about a month.
Launched in 2004 to track gamma-ray bursts and other high-energy explosions, the 1.6-ton Swift has been sinking faster than expected as recent solar storms thicken the upper atmosphere and increase drag. It now circles roughly 224 miles up and, left alone, was projected to reenter around October. The three-armed servicer is designed to capture the telescope and raise its altitude by about 150 miles.
NASA is paying Katalyst about $30 million, and the company assembled the mission in roughly nine months to beat the reentry window. If the capture and boost succeed, Swift could resume observations by September. Beyond saving one instrument, the mission is a test of in-orbit servicing — the ability to refuel, repair, or reposition satellites already in space rather than replacing them.