NASA is about to attempt an extraordinary space rescue to save one of its most important telescopes from falling back to Earth. According to a report by ScienceAlert, the American space agency is using a robotic spacecraft to catch and lift the sinking satellite, a feat that has never been tried before.
The target of this daring mission is NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory. Launched in 2004, the telescope has spent more than two decades taking incredible images of the universe using ultraviolet and X-ray light. However, NASA officials confirmed that it has been losing altitude rapidly.
All satellites in low-Earth orbit experience a gentle pull from the atmosphere, which causes them to slowly drop over time. Data from NASA shows that Swift is falling much faster than expected because of recent intense solar activity. Without help, the telescope would eventually burn up in the atmosphere.
To prevent this, NASA has partnered with a private company called Katalyst Space in a deal worth around 30 million US dollars. As ScienceAlert reports, Katalyst had less than a year to design and build a robotic rescue craft named LINK.
The small robot is scheduled to launch on a Pegasus XL rocket. Once it reaches space, LINK will track down the Swift telescope, grab onto it, and slowly push it up into a higher, safer orbit over a period of several months. Meanwhile, NASA engineers on the ground have been adjusting the telescope's path to keep it at least 300 kilometres above the Earth until help arrives.
While satellites fall back to Earth regularly without causing any danger, NASA wants to save Swift because building a replacement would be far more expensive. If this mission succeeds, it will prove that robots can maintain and repair older satellites. NASA has already stated that the famous Hubble Space Telescope could be next in line for a robotic life extension.
