Private Spacecraft Falls Back to Earth After Failing to Rescue Aging NASA Telescope
The $30 million salvage effort ended after Link lost control, and NASA said the mission provided practice for future satellite-rescue attempts.
- On Friday, the robotic spacecraft Link plunged back to Earth, bringing the $30 million, NASA-sponsored salvage effort of the Swift Observatory to a close.
- Built in under a year, Link aimed to boost the Swift Observatory to a higher orbit, but electronic failures and a malfunctioning valve forced engineers to abandon the mission in August.
- Flight controllers practiced maneuvering Link's three arms, each about 3 feet long, and guided the spacecraft to within 7 miles to 9 miles of Swift before reentry.
- NASA's Shawn Domagal-Goldman said the effort provided "valuable practice for future satellite-rescue missions," while Katalyst CEO Ghonhee Lee called it an "ambitious mission on an aggressive timeline."
- Swift is expected to reenter Earth's atmosphere in early November as its orbit steadily sinks, and NASA is scrambling to fill the void left by the $364 million observatory.
28 Articles
28 Articles
Private spacecraft falls back to Earth after failing to rescue aging NASA telescope - WSVN 7News | Miami News, Weather, Sports
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The robotic spacecraft that failed to rescue an aging NASA telescope plunged back to Earth on Friday less than three...
Spacecraft falls back to earth after failed NASA recovery mission...
The robotic spacecraft that failed to rescue an aging NASA telescope plunged back to Earth on Friday less than three months after launching on the bold mission. Katalyst Space Technologies announced the demise of its three-armed spacecraft named Link. It reentered the atmosphere overnight, bringing the $30 million, NASA-sponsored salvage... Read More The post Spacecraft falls back to earth after failed NASA recovery mission appeared first on Th…
Private spacecraft falls back to Earth after failing to rescue aging N
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The robotic spacecraft that failed to rescue an aging NASA telescope plunged back to Earth on Friday less than three months after launching on the bold mission. Katalyst Space Technologies announced the
Spacecraft plummets back to Earth after failing to capture NASA observatory
A robotic spacecraft sent to rescue an aging telescope belonging to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) fell back to Earth less than three months after it launched.
LINK Reentered After 85 Days—Its 15-Kilometer Swift Pass Was Not a Rescue
Katalyst Space’s LINK robotic servicing craft reentered Earth’s atmosphere on September 25 after 85 days in orbit. It never captured NASA’s Swift observatory or raised the telescope’s decaying orbit. The planned rescue failed. The final accounting is more useful than that binary result. Katalyst’s post-flight report says an electrical power fault disabled two of three…
Coverage Details
Bias Distribution
- 39% of the sources lean Left
Factuality
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
