NASA's Swift telescope rescue mission encounters spacecraft spin problem
NASA's effort to boost the aging Swift Observatory to a higher orbit has been delayed after the rescue spacecraft began spinning uncontrollably, but officials say a solution is still being pursued.
NASA launched a rescue operation in early July to raise the Swift Observatory, a 2004-launched gamma-ray burst telescope, to a safer orbit after it began descending faster than expected due to atmospheric drag and recent solar storms. The mission used Northrop Grumman’s Pegasus XL air-launch system to place the 5-foot-tall LINK spacecraft, built by Katalyst Space, into low-Earth orbit.
LINK initially reported healthy power and communications, and ground teams planned a series of checks before the vehicle approached Swift to attach with a custom robotic arm. By the end of July, however, NASA reported that the spacecraft experienced mechanical issues that caused it to spin out of control, limiting contact to sporadic signals.
"The Katalyst ground control team is using electric propulsion thruster burns to reduce the spin and stabilize the vehicle," a NASA blog post said on July 31.
Katalyst indicated that it has identified possible paths forward and hopes to attempt a rendezvous with Swift by the end of August. If successful, the mission would extend Swift’s operational life for several years, avoiding the cost of building a replacement and demonstrating a new capability for capturing and servicing satellites that were not designed for in-space repair.