Spacecraft Sent on NASA Rescue Mission Now Needs Rescuing

An unmanned spacecraft that was sent to rescue a falling NASA space telescope now needs an intervention of its own. NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory was launched in 2004 to observe gamma-ray bursts, bright flashes of high-energy light from violent explosions throughout the universe. The observatory, which has already outlived its planned lifetime, is at risk after the 2024 peak of the sun’s 11-year sunspot cycle was stronger than expected, warming the Earth’s upper atmosphere and increasing the drag on satellites like Swift, which is dropping about 1.5 miles a week toward Earth. Katalyst was commissioned for a “high-risk, high-reward” effort to rush through a small rescue craft, called Link, to push Swift into a higher orbit. But Link unexpectedly started tumbling just a few miles from Swift, making a full rotation every 40 seconds and putting the rescue mission in danger. Ghonhee Lee, Katalyst’s chief executive, said the spinning was a “very serious situation” that engineers were working to resolve. Link’s rendezvous with Swift has been delayed by at least a couple of weeks, but NASA said the agency was hopeful they would find a solution.

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