NASA and Katalyst launch robotic mission to save aging Swift observatory from reentry
A refrigerator-size robot called LINK is heading to grab the 1.6-ton Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory and tow it to a safer orbit, preventing its destruction in the atmosphere later this year.
Launch after delays
A modified Lockheed TriStar jetliner dropped a Pegasus XL rocket over the Pacific Ocean at 1:36 a.m. PDT on Friday, sending the LINK rescue spacecraft into orbit. The airborne launch from Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands followed three consecutive postponements this week (two for weather, one for a technical problem with the rocket). Katalyst Space Technologies built LINK under a $30 million NASA contract on a nine-month schedule.
- Swift observatory
- 500 $ million
- LINK rescue mission
- 30 $ million
The ailing observatory
Swift has been studying gamma-ray bursts, distant galaxies and black holes since 2004, far outliving its two-year design life. The telescope has no thrusters of its own, and solar activity since late 2024 has heated and expanded Earth's atmosphere, increasing drag and accelerating orbital decay. NASA says there is a 90 percent chance Swift would fall out of orbit and burn up later this year without intervention.
By demonstrating we can quickly and cost-effectively extend Swift's lifetime, we're creating a blueprint for servicing spacecraft that were never designed for on-orbit maintenance.
The rescue sequence
After deployment, controllers will check LINK's solar panels and systems for one to two weeks. The spacecraft will then travel for about a month to reach Swift's vicinity, closing to roughly 6 miles (9.6 km) by late July. A week of precision maneuvers will bring it close enough for three robotic arms, each tipped with hand-like grippers, to latch onto the observatory. Once attached, LINK will spend 60 days raising Swift to an altitude of 373 miles (600 km), roughly double the height it will have fallen to by then. Swift, currently in a power-saving mode, could resume science operations as early as the autumn and keep working for another decade, according to NASA projections.
A bet on in-orbit servicing
Katalyst Space Technologies, based in Flagstaff, Arizona, aims to prove that rescuing and repairing satellites can be a viable business. The company's CEO told Reuters that future spacecraft could be priced in the high-single-digit or low-double-digit millions of dollars. The mission also carries geopolitical weight: orbital grappling technology shares foundations with methods that spacefaring powers like the United States, China and Russia could use to disable rival satellites.
We are very grateful to have the chance to at least try.
