AI Generated Image
Next step for LINK spacecraft - a software update that won't make things worse. Are you listening, Microsoft?
The Register • • science
Key Points:
- Katalyst Space has successfully reduced the spin rate of the LINK vehicle from 9 degrees per second to 1.47 degrees per second, stabilizing it for the next phase of the mission to rescue NASA's Swift observatory.
- A significant flight software update is planned to restore full attitude control, enabling LINK to perform phasing maneuvers to align its orbit with Swift for rendezvous.
- LINK used less than 100 grams of propellant from its xenon-powered ion thrusters during recovery efforts, conserving fuel for the critical rendezvous and orbit-raising phases.
- The attitude control failure left LINK with only one operational reaction wheel and partial reaction control system functionality, though the exact cause remains unclear.
- After successfully grappling Swift with its robotic arms, LINK aims to gradually boost the observatory back to its original orbit over several months before detaching and re-entering Earth's atmosphere.
