NASA launches mission to rescue the Swift space observatory

NASA launched the Swift Boost mission. It is intended to save the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory. The robotic spacecraft LINK is to dock with the telescope and move it to a higher orbit.

This is reported by Engadget.

The spacecraft has already powered on and over the coming weeks will undergo technical checks of its propulsion, sensors and navigation systems.

Details about the launch

The launch took place on July 3 from the Marshall Islands after several delays. Ground teams have already established contact with the robotic spacecraft LINK.

According to the publication, the launch used an unusual air-launch scheme:

• the LINK spacecraft was mounted on a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket;
• the rocket itself was attached under the fuselage of a Stargazer aircraft that took off from Kwajalein Atoll;
• at an altitude of about 40,000 feet (roughly 12 km) the plane released the rocket, which after a few seconds of free fall ignited its motors and sent LINK into space.

Establishing communication was the mission’s top priority.

LINK is now powered on, and over the next several weeks specialists from Katalyst Space will test its navigation systems, sensors and engines. After verifying the spacecraft’s functionality, it will head directly to the Swift observatory for inspection.

How the telescope will be rescued

LINK will approach the telescope, capture it using three robotic arms, dock with it and begin towing it upward.

The end goal is to reach an orbit about 370 miles high.

The entire raising process will take between 10 and 12 weeks. This will extend the observatory’s life by roughly a decade. Without this intervention the telescope would fall from orbit by the end of this year.

Why the telescope is falling

The Swift observatory was launched back in 2004. It was originally designed for only a two-year mission, but due to its successful operation it has repeatedly been kept in service.

Recently the telescope has been losing altitude faster due to increased drag in the upper layers of Earth’s atmosphere. This was driven by strong solar storms that expanded the planet’s atmosphere and increased its effect on satellites in low orbit.

If nothing is done, Swift will re-enter the atmosphere and burn up.

Why NASA decided to save it

Despite its age, the telescope remains a unique tool for astronomers, writes Space.

Swift specializes in finding gamma-ray bursts — the most powerful explosions in the Universe that occur during the deaths of massive stars or the mergers of neutron stars. Such events can last only a few seconds, so studying them requires a very rapid response.

Where the Hubble telescope can take up to two days to repoint to a new target, Swift does it in a matter of minutes. At NASA they call the telescope the «first responder» among space observatories.

Recall that NASA will spend $30 million on this mission. 

Read also: NASA is testing a new Mars rover that can move faster and lift its wheels to overcome obstacles