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Spacecraft Sent on NASA Rescue Mission Now Needs Rescuing
The Daily Beast • • science
Key Points:
- NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, launched in 2004 to observe gamma-ray bursts, is at risk due to increased atmospheric drag caused by a stronger-than-expected solar activity peak in 2024, causing it to drop about 1.5 miles per week.
- Katalyst developed a small rescue spacecraft named Link to push Swift into a higher orbit as part of a high-risk, high-reward mission to extend the observatory’s operational life.
- Link began tumbling uncontrollably just a few miles from Swift, rotating once every 40 seconds, which has delayed the rescue mission and posed a serious challenge for engineers.
- The rendezvous between Link and Swift has been postponed by at least a couple of weeks while NASA and Katalyst work on resolving the spinning issue, with hopes of finding a solution to continue the mission.
