- NASA’s ageing Swift spacecraft is falling due to increased atmospheric drag from solar activity
- NASA paused most science operations to reduce drag and slow the spacecraft’s orbital decay
- A $30 million contract was awarded to Katalyst Space for a summer rescue mission launch
An ageing NASA spacecraft is currently falling towards Earth due to increased solar activity, which has accelerated atmospheric drag. To prevent a catastrophic crash, NASA has awarded a $30 million contract to Arizona-based startup Katalyst Space Technologies to launch a rescue mission.
NASA in February announced that its Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, which surveyed the sky for gamma-ray bursts for more than 21 years, was temporarily suspending most science operations in an effort to slow the spacecraft's orbital decay.
The space agency then noted that stopping these activities was aimed at enabling controllers to keep the spacecraft in an orientation that minimises drag effects, extending its time in orbit.
Explaining the issue, NASA said that solar activity heats Earth's atmosphere and causes it to puff outward. This phenomenon increases drag on all spacecraft in low Earth orbit, gradually reducing their altitude over time.
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Now, NASA wants to extend the observatory's scientific life by boosting it into a higher orbit with the help of Katalyst Space Technologies. "To maximise the orbit boost's chances of success, Swift's average altitude needs to be above about 185 miles (about 300 kilometres). As of early February, Swift's average altitude had fallen below about 250 miles (about 400 kilometres)," said NASA in February's report.
"We anticipate the reboost mission to launch in the summer, so we're transitioning operations now to give it the best margin we possibly can," principal investigator S. Bradley Cenko at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, said as quoted by NASA.
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Swift is a crucial tool for studying gamma-ray bursts, black holes, and supernovae. Losing it would severely impact our understanding of these cosmic events.
According to Scientific American, Swift was doomed to burn up later this year. Hence, the rescue mission has become even more important. If it achieves success, it would be a major milestone for science
The mission involves launching a Pegasus rocket from a plane to deploy a robotic spacecraft, which will autonomously dock with Swift and boost it to a stable orbit. This will extend the spacecraft's life by up to 10 years.
"What keeps me up at night is the things that we don't control," engineer Ghonhee Lee, Katalyst's CEO, said as quoted by the report.
