Space and Physics
PUBLISHED
Since 2004, the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory has been a unique eye on the brightest and most energetic kind of celestial explosions in our universe: gamma-ray bursts. Unfortunately, without external intervention, it is doomed to burn up in the atmosphere by the end of the year. That's where a daring rescue mission launching this week comes in.
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.Swift started with an altitude of 600 kilometers (370 mi), but atmospheric drag over the past two and a bit decades since its launch has slowed the spacecraft down and shrunk its orbit. The intense solar activity of the 2024 solar maximum led to a swelling of the Earth’s atmosphere, increasing the drag even more and pulling it into its current fateful death spiral.
Swift discovers hundreds of gamma-ray bursts every year. It has no equivalent, and there is no plan for a follow-up mission. So, despite Swift not being designed for docking or on-orbit servicing, a spacecraft will attempt to connect with it and lift it to a safe orbit.
Katalyst Space Technologies won the contract for the mission, which is called LINK, in the latter half of last year. It will be launched on Saturday, 27 June, and the rescue attempt is expected to take place three to four weeks after launch (so some time on or after 18 July at the earliest).
The rescue maneuver itself is expected to last from about a month to a month and a half, after which LINK will separate, hopefully following a successful shift of the telescope's orbit.
It’s not just the attempt that is audacious. It is also the timescale in which this mission has been put into practice, going from approval to launch in less than a year.
“What the Katalyst team has accomplished in just eight months is extraordinary,” Ghonhee Lee, CEO of Katalyst Space, said in a statement. “The team designed, built, tested, and integrated a robotic spacecraft capable of performing one of the most ambitious commercial servicing missions ever attempted. Completing encapsulation marks the transition from development to operations.”
“We’re doing this on a time scale that’s kind of crazy by space standards,” said Brad Cenko, a research astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and principal investigator for Swift. “It’s a different risk posture than NASA is used to working with.”
Swift hasn't been conducting any science since February because the mission team has placed the spacecraft and its solar panel in a position designed to minimize drag and ensure the space telescope doesn’t fall back down before LINK has a chance to save it.
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