NASA is racing against time to prevent the ageing Swift Observatory from plunging back to Earth, launching a $30 million robotic rescue mission as soon as this week. The agency has hired startup Katalyst Space Technologies to boost the gamma-ray telescope to a higher, more stable orbit before it reaches a point of no return in October.
Swift's critical condition
Swift has been scanning the cosmos since its launch in 2004, but recent intense solar activity has caused it to sink faster and faster. Currently orbiting at about 360 kilometers, the observatory must be above 300 kilometers for the rescue to work. According to the latest estimates, it is expected to hit that critical threshold in October.
The rescue plan
Katalyst's autonomous spacecraft, named Lift, will launch aboard an aeroplane-launched Pegasus rocket from an atoll in the Marshall Islands, with liftoff as early as Tuesday. Lift is roughly the size of a small kitchen refrigerator with a 40-foot solar wingspan and sports three arms, each with two finger-like pinching grippers resembling Lego mini-figure hands. It will take about a month to rendezvous with Swift and catch it, then another couple of months to raise its orbit to the desired 600 kilometers.
"This is the first American space robot to go up and do anything like this," said Katalyst Space CEO Ghonhee Lee. "NASA has all these big senior observatories, all of them can benefit from a service like this. So what we're proving with this mission is this is a new play in the playbook that's available."
Challenges and significance
Worth hundreds of millions of dollars, Swift was never designed to be repaired or retrieved by any means, making the mission especially challenging, according to company officials. Only China has attempted a similar mission, successfully boosting a satellite into a higher graveyard orbit four years ago. If all goes well, Swift could be back in business by September, Lee said.
Future prospects for Hubble
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, also losing altitude due to solar flares, could be next in line for such a rescue. Lee indicated that Katalyst's next-generation robot, still in development, could potentially save the much larger Hubble in a couple of years.
