NASA is racing to save the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory after recent solar storms caused the spacecraft’s orbit to drop to a dangerously low altitude.
The observatory, which has been operating since 2004, could re-enter Earth’s atmosphere and burn up as early as this year if nothing is done.
To prevent that from happening, NASA has partnered with Katalyst Space Technologies. The company’s Link spacecraft successfully launched on Friday and is now on a mission to rendezvous with Swift, attach to it, and push the aging observatory into a higher orbit. Since Swift was never equipped with its own propulsion system, it cannot raise its orbit without outside assistance.
Swift is currently orbiting Earth at an altitude of around 224 miles. Katalyst’s goal is to boost it by approximately 150 miles, restoring it to a much safer operating altitude and extending its scientific mission.
The rescue effort is remarkable not only because of its technical difficulty but also because of the speed at which it came together. NASA gave Katalyst just nine months to design and prepare the mission after determining that Swift’s orbit would become too low to recover by October. The entire project cost around $30 million, a relatively small investment compared to the observatory’s original $500 million value.
The Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory has played a major role in astronomy for more than two decades. Its primary mission is to detect and study gamma-ray bursts, some of the most powerful explosions in the universe. Observations from Swift have helped scientists learn more about the early universe, black holes, neutron stars, and other extreme cosmic events. If the rescue mission succeeds, the observatory will be able to continue contributing valuable scientific discoveries for years to come.
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