Overview
- Katalyst’s LINK successfully reached orbit and established communications after a Pegasus XL air launch, and teams have begun a multi‑week commissioning phase to verify power, navigation, sensors, and thrusters.
- Launch attempts were delayed by weather and a Pegasus navigation software abort that was fixed before the successful deployment, underscoring the tight margins for the months‑long rescue effort.
- LINK carries LiDAR, cameras, three robotic arms, and electric plasma thrusters that will be used to survey Swift, identify usable grapple points on a satellite never built for servicing, and then slowly raise its orbit.
- Swift’s orbit is decaying faster because of increased solar activity and, without a successful boost, the 2004 observatory is expected to fall to an altitude too low for rescue and possibly reenter by October.
- If LINK succeeds it will preserve Swift’s fast gamma‑ray burst alerts for scientists and validate a lower‑cost commercial model for on‑orbit servicing that could extend or repair other aging satellites.