Particle.news
Download on the App Store
9 ARTICLES
·
22h ago

U.S. Robot Mission Readies to Boost Aging Swift Space Telescope

Katalyst’s LINK will attempt an autonomous grapple followed by a months-long orbit raise to keep Swift working as a test of commercial on-orbit servicing.

Explained: Why NASA is racing to save the Swift space telescope before it falls to Earth | Today News
The life of the Hubble Space Telescope may be extended with a rescue mission in 2028. (AP PHOTO)
Image
A Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket is affixed to the bottom of the company’s Stargazer, a modified L-1011 aircraft, which took off June 18 at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Inside the rocket is Katalyst Space’s LINK robotic servicing spacecraft, which will launch to boost the orbit of NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory. Stargazer will fly to Kwajalein Atoll, part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands in the South Pacific Ocean, to launch the mission.

Overview

  • The rescue mission is scheduled to launch no earlier than Tuesday, June 30, 2026, from Kwajalein Atoll using Northrop Grumman’s air-launched Pegasus XL carried by the Stargazer aircraft.
  • After several weeks of on-orbit checks, Katalyst’s LINK spacecraft will spend about a month rendezvousing with Swift, use robotic arms to grapple the telescope, then slowly raise its orbit over several months toward roughly 370 miles (600 km).
  • Teams have put Swift into a low-drag orientation and powered down instruments to slow descent because heightened solar activity has increased atmospheric drag and threatens uncontrolled reentry if the observatory falls below about 185 miles (300 km).
  • NASA awarded Katalyst a roughly $30 million accelerated contract in September 2025 and the company built and tested LINK in under a year as a lower-cost alternative to replacing Swift, which would be far more expensive.
  • If successful, the operation would preserve Swift’s rapid transient‑alert capability and validate commercial robotic servicing techniques that could be applied to other aging satellites such as Hubble and future on-orbit repairs or refuels.