Overview
- An air-launched Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL carrying Katalyst’s LINK was scheduled to lift off Tuesday from Kwajalein Atoll after release from the Stargazer L-1011 to place the servicer into Swift’s orbital plane.
- NASA awarded Katalyst a roughly $30 million accelerated contract to design and build LINK, a roughly five-foot robotic spacecraft with three arms that will image, approach and attempt to grasp the unprepared Swift telescope.
- The mission’s riskiest step is the capture because Swift was not built for servicing and engineers lack close-up pictures of its grapple points, so teams plan a careful photoshoot and autonomous grappling sequence before any boost.
- If LINK secures Swift the servicer will use gentle ion-thruster burns to raise the combined spacecraft over several months from roughly 360 km toward about 600 km, preserving Swift’s unique rapid-alert observations at far lower cost than replacement.
- NASA models show recent solar activity increased atmospheric drag and could push Swift below a critical altitude of about 185 miles this autumn, and teams have already reduced Swift operations to lower drag while the rescue is attempted.