NASA to Launch Robotic Mission to Save Falling Telescope Tuesday
NASA hired Katalyst Space Technologies to use a $30 million robotic spacecraft to catch Swift and raise its orbit before reentry.
- NASA hired startup Katalyst Space Technologies for a $30 million rescue mission to save the aging Swift Observatory, with the robotic spacecraft launching as early as Tuesday from the Marshall Islands.
- Swift has been losing altitude due to intense solar activity since its 2004 launch and must remain above 185 miles to function; estimates suggest it could reach a point of no return by October.
- Katalyst's autonomous spacecraft, named Lift, features a 40-foot solar wingspan and three arms with pinching grippers, requiring one month to rendezvous with Swift and two months to raise its orbit to 373 miles.
- Katalyst Space CEO Ghonhee Lee called the mission "a new play in the playbook," marking the first time an American space robot has attempted such a recovery and establishing a new repair industry.
- Successful operation could enable future missions, as thirty-six-year-old Hubble also faces altitude loss and could receive a life-extending boost from Katalyst as early as 2028.
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The Express Tribune
Insider PaperNASA robot mission aims to rescue space telescope
NASA on Tuesday is set to launch a daring robotic rescue mission, a long shot bid to prevent one of its aging telescopes from vanishing into dust. If successful, the effort could pave the way for giving other satellites a second life. The operation is set to last several months, kicking off with the launch of a robot designed to rescue the Swift space telescope that's currently falling towards Earth. Without intervention, Swift is expected to so…
NASA races to save aging Swift telescope from falling back to Earth with daring rescue mission
Scanning the cosmos since its launch in 2004, Swift has been sinking faster and faster because of recent intense solar activity. It needs to get to a higher, more stable orbit as soon as possible to survive.
Launched in 2004 and without its own propulsion system, the Swift Observatory has fallen nearly 200 kilometers in two decades
leprogres.fr
After 22 years of service, the Swift telescope of the Nasa lost more than 200 km of altitude and threatened to burn in the atmosphere. To save it, an American startup designed in a few months a space tug and pulled out of the hangars a rocket of the 1990s.
Mission underway to save aging NASA satellite in space
(CBS, KYMA) - An urgent and historic mission is underway to save an aging NASA satellite in space. NASA says its Swift Observatory telescope is falling back to earth faster than expected due to recent solar activity. To save it from burning up, the agency is set to launch a daring commercial robot rescue mission as soon as Wednesday. NASA hopes the spacecraft will dock with Swift, grab it with three robotic arms, and raise the telescope's orbit …
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