Editor’s note: This article was corrected at 07:43 EDT on July 2 with the news that the mission was delayed due to a launch vehicle issue and did not launch successfully, as previously reported. NASA A new launch date will be set after reviewing data from today’s effort.
A rescue spacecraft is ready to move fast NASA The installation of the telescope has been delayed once again to prevent it from falling into the Earth’s atmosphere.
The first mission of its kind was launched from the Marshall Islands at 5:09 a.m. EDT (0909 GMT) Thursday (July 2), carrying a robotic-arm spacecraft called Link into the sky aboard a modified Lockheed Martin L-1011 airliner. In mid-air, a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket was set to launch Link into orbit, where it would rendezvous with NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, a gamma-ray telescope that is slowly falling toward Earth and headed toward an untimely death.
But the launch was delayed due to a malfunction in the launch vehicle, the second delay in two days after yesterday’s attempt.
Link was developed by private company Catalyst Space $30 million. Catalyst aims to tackle the falling Swift observatory, which was launched in 2004, and pull it into higher orbit using Link’s robotic arms and thrusters. Swift is still scientifically useful but is rapidly losing altitude due to the natural drag of the Earth’s atmosphere. Scientists say that without help, Swift will likely die out at the end of this year.
“This is a high-risk, high-reward mission,” Shawn Domagal-GoldmanDirector of NASA’s Astrophysics Division, said in a statement. “We have much to gain from this boost effort, which is more cost-effective than trying to replace Swift’s capabilities, and allows NASA to advance the nation’s satellite services industry for the benefit of all.”
Intense cost $250 million In 2004, which is approximately $450 million today after accounting for inflation – a relatively inexpensive observatory compared to $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope. The Swift mission was originally designed to study gamma-ray bursts – cosmic explosions that occur when a massive, dying star collapses into a black hole. Swift has made numerous observations of these explosions over the past 20-plus years, as well as monitoring other signs of stellar activity, such as X-ray flares or supernova explosions, as well as transient objects. like comets and asteroids.
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In short, Swift helps us see how the universe is changing over short periods of time.
“Swift is NASA’s multitool when it comes to studying the universe,” s bradley senkoSwift’s principal investigator and an astronomer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center said in the statement. “It observes the sky using a wide range of light, and rapidly pinpoints short-lived bursts, alerting other facilities in space and on the ground to help coordinate follow-up observations.”
Catalyst engineers attach the link to a baseplate inside the Space Environment Simulator at NASA Goddard on April 28, 2026. The team practiced firing the satellite’s ion thrusters and operated one of the robotic arms while cycling through space-like temperatures.
(Image credit: NASA/Sophia Roberts)
high risk rescue mission
The rescue operation comes with many challenges. Swift was not designed for servicing at launch, making the logistics of the mission something of a puzzle. Additionally, NASA had awarded the contract to Catalyst in September after Earth’s atmosphere had ballooned due to high solar activity in recent years and increased drag had caused the spacecraft’s fall speed to unexpectedly increase. This meant that the mission had to be ready for space in less than a year after the usual punishing requirements of design, construction, and testing.
Catalyst accepted the challenge because the company hopes to do this kind of work more often. “If we’re going to have a permanent presence beyond Earth, we need the ability to manipulate our environment in space,” Catalyst CEO snoring Said in the statement. “This means deploying robotic spacecraft that can position, repair, refuel and retrofit satellites after launch.”
However, unless Swift changed its operations plan, the spacecraft could not be recovered in July. So, to give Link as much time as possible to save Swift, the operations team at Penn State’s Eberly College of Science made some changes.
For example, Swift’s science was minimized so that the spacecraft could see the target only when the telescope was placed in a “streamlined position” to reduce drag, NASA explained. Power consumption has also been reduced to allow Swift’s solar panels to fly “in a more aerodynamic orientation”, which also reduces the drag caused by the spacecraft falling into the atmosphere.
Agency models suggest these changes will allow swifts to remain above the minimum rescue altitude of 185 miles (298 kilometers) until autumn. Catalyst will use that time to perform a normal spacecraft “commissioning” on the link to make sure all systems are OK. According to NASA, it will take about a month for Link to meet Swift.
Following those steps, Link will contact Swift for evaluation, and Catalyst will use Link’s robotic arms to latch onto the NASA observatory. Link will then use its propulsion system to slowly lower Swift’s orbit to about 370 miles (595 km) — well above the path of passage. International Space StationWhich orbits about 250 miles (400 km) above the Earth.
NASA did not say how long Swift would be able to observe for, should it safely reach its new altitude. However, European Space Agency figures The suggestion is that at an altitude of 310 miles (500 km) the spacecraft re-enters the atmosphere within about 25 years. This suggests that as long as Swift’s instruments hold up, scientists will have many years of observations to look forward to.