Spacecraft Launches to Rescue NASA’s Swift Observatory

On Friday, a three-armed spacecraft launched into orbit with the mission to rescue a NASA telescope at risk of crashing back to Earth. Northrop Grumman launched Katalyst Space Technologies’ Link spacecraft from the Marshall Islands, located in the Pacific Ocean. The Pegasus rocket took off from a modified airplane, aiming to reach and capture NASA’s Swift Observatory in about a month.

Swift, launched in 2004, is descending faster due to recent solar storms. To prevent this, NASA has contracted Katalyst for $30 million to capture and elevate the telescope’s orbit. This operation aims to allow Swift to continue observing cosmic phenomena like gamma ray bursts and exploding stars. If successful, Swift could resume its observations by September. Currently, observations have been paused to conserve the telescope’s orbit.

There is potential for NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope to undergo a similar operation in the future, as it also faces altitude loss from solar activity. Swift, weighing 1.6 tons (1.4 metric tons), currently orbits 224 miles (360 kilometers) above Earth. Katalyst plans to raise it by 150 miles (240 kilometers), returning it to its original altitude. The Link spacecraft will boost Swift’s altitude gradually, avoiding any abrupt movements.

Katalyst Space CEO Ghonhee Lee stated, “This is a high-risk, high-reward mission. The biggest danger was always we don’t launch anything and we let Swift burn up in the atmosphere. So we were always trying to avoid that risk, and our team has done that.”

Katalyst organized this mission in nine months due to the urgent need to raise Swift’s orbit before it becomes irretrievable by fall. Technical issues and adverse weather caused several launch delays.

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