A specialized spacecraft designed to rescue a deteriorating NASA telescope has successfully entered orbit. The Katalyst Space Technologies Link vehicle launched Friday from the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean, aiming to capture and elevate the Swift Observatory before it crashes back to Earth.
The Link spacecraft rode atop a Pegasus rocket, which was dropped from the belly of a modified aircraft. This launch method allowed the rocket to ignite at altitude. The mission is scheduled to reach the Swift telescope in approximately one month. If successful, the Link vehicle will attach to the observatory and use its thrusters to raise its altitude by 150 miles, returning it to its original operational height.
Swift, which launched in 2004, is currently circling Earth at an altitude of 224 miles. Recent solar storms have intensified atmospheric drag, causing the telescope to lose altitude at an accelerated rate. Without intervention, NASA predicted the observatory would burn up in the atmosphere by October. To preserve its remaining orbit, scientific observations have been temporarily suspended.
NASA has contracted Katalyst Space Technologies for $30 million to execute the salvage operation. The company assembled the rescue mission in just nine months, a timeline driven by NASA’s urgency to prevent the loss of the instrument. The Link spacecraft will boost Swift slowly to avoid jostling the sensitive equipment. If the mission proceeds as planned, Swift could resume tracking cosmic events, such as gamma-ray bursts and exploding stars, by September.
Katalyst Space CEO Ghonhee Lee described the effort as a high-risk, high-reward operation. He noted that the primary danger was allowing the telescope to remain in its decaying orbit, which would result in its destruction. Lee stated that the team worked to mitigate the risk of failing to launch at all.
The launch was not without complications. Bad weather and technical problems caused several last-minute delays before the rocket finally lifted off. The 1.6-ton Swift telescope is one of several instruments facing orbital decay due to solar activity. NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope is also experiencing altitude loss from increased atmospheric drag and may require a similar rescue operation in the coming years.
