NASA prepares first-of-its-kind robotic mission to rescue the Swift space telescope
NASA's aging Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, the world's main early-warning system for gamma-ray bursts, is slowly falling toward Earth as solar activity thickens the upper atmosphere. The agency hired Katalyst Space Technologies to send a refrigerator-sized robot called Link to
For two decades the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory has been the world's fastest alert system for gamma-ray bursts, the most powerful explosions in the universe, detecting roughly 100 a year. Its orbit has been decaying, worsened by strong solar activity, and without help the telescope would burn up. NASA signed a 30 million dollar contract with Katalyst Space Technologies to try something never done before: a refrigerator-sized robotic spacecraft called Link, fitted with ion engines and robotic arms, will chase Swift, grapple a telescope never built to be docked with, and slowly raise its orbit from about 224 to 373 miles over two to three months. Weather delayed the launch on a Northrop Grumman Pegasus rocket. Beyond one telescope, the precedent matters: proving a robot can grab and reboost a satellite that was never designed for servicing would open the door to rescuing others already fading in orbit.