CE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The mission to save NASA’s sinking Swift Observatory was called off Wednesday, dooming the telescope to a fiery reentry later this year.
Katalyst Space Technologies Halts Efforts to Rescue NASA’s Swift Telescope
NASA and Katalyst Space Technologies have confirmed that Katalyst’s Link spacecraft will not attempt to capture the Swift telescope and elevate it to a higher orbit. This decision comes more than a month after Link was launched to aid the ailing telescope.
Katalyst cited difficulties in controlling the spacecraft as the reason for this change in plans. As a result, the Swift telescope, which has been operational for over 20 years and has contributed significantly to the study of cosmic phenomena such as gamma-ray bursts and supernovae, is expected to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman remarked, “This is not the outcome we were working toward, but it does not change why this mission was worth attempting.”
NASA paid $30 million to Katalyst in an attempt to raise the telescope to a safer, longer-lasting orbit. Because of all the sun’s recent outbursts, the 36-year-old Hubble is also dropping in orbit. Intense solar activity caused it to lose altitude faster than expected. The rescue spacecraft went into an uncontrollable spin a few weeks after its liftoff in early July. issues continued to plague its pointing and positioning in orbit While flight controllers managed to slow Link’s tumble. NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope could benefit from an orbital boost and had been next in line for a rescue attempt had this mission gone well. It wasn’t immediately known whether Hubble is now out of luck.
