All articles tagged with #orbital rescue
NASA’s Swift gamma-ray burst observatory is being rescued by Katalyst Space Technologies with its Link satellite, launched on a Pegasus XL. Over the coming weeks, Link will conduct checks and then autonomously approach Swift to attempt a robotic capture and lift the observatory to a higher, safer orbit, marking a pioneering robotic servicing mission.
NASA is funding and launching the LINK spacecraft, a three‑armed robot, to intercept and retrieve the aging Swift space telescope as its orbit decays, with the aim of lifting it back to a stable altitude in an unprecedented, high-risk rescue that could keep Swift studying extreme cosmic events.
NASA is racing to save the aging Swift gamma-ray observatory from fiery reentry with a $30 million robotic rescue. Katalyst Space Technologies’ three-armed Link will launch aboard a Pegasus rocket from the Marshall Islands, rendezvous with Swift within about a month, and gradually raise its orbit from roughly 224 miles to 373 miles to avert the October “point of no return.” The mission—with Swift’s instruments powered down to slow descent—could preserve valuable data, demonstrate a new US space-repair capability, and pave the way for future rescues of other observatories such as Hubble.