Groundbreaking Swift spacecraft rescue mission launches

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UPDATE, JULY 3: After three days of postponed launch attempts, the LINK spacecraft finally launched at 4:36 a.m. EDT, Friday, July 3, from Kwajalein Atoll in the South Pacific Ocean. The spacecraft, set to boost the ailing Swift space telescope into a safe orbit, reached Earth-orbit itself atop a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket. This rocket launches from the air, and was deployed at around 40,000 feet by an L-1011 aircraft.

NASA to save Swift spacecraft from plunging back to Earth

The Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, better known as Swift, has been orbiting Earth since 2004. Swift has been studying the most powerful explosions in the universe: gamma-ray bursts. Now, its orbit is rapidly decaying. Swift is falling back to Earth, and if nothing stops it, it will burn up in our atmosphere this fall in a spectacular, fiery show.

But Swift is still doing great science, so NASA wants to extend the life of the mission. In order to do so, it will have to boost the spacecraft back into a stable orbit.

Enter the U.S. company Katalyst Space. In late 2025, Katalyst Space won a contract with NASA to push Swift back into nearly its original orbit.

Now, their robotic servicing spacecraft – named LINK – is on the way to Swift. After three days of delays, it finally launched atop Northrop Grumman’s Pegasus XL rocket at 8:36 p.m. Marshall Islands Time (4:36 a.m. EDT) on Friday, July 3, from Kwajalein Atoll in the South Pacific Ocean. With LINK now in Earth orbit, mission controllers will spend the next few weeks confirming it’s working as expected.

Then, LINK will make its way toward Swift. It will grab the ailing telescope with extendable arms and carry it to a higher altitude. The team is aiming for an average altitude higher than about 185 miles (about 300 kilometers) above Earth.

Boost timeline

Below is a timeline from launch through the boost steps and until Swift returns to science operations. NASA has temporarily suspended science operations on Swift until the boosting mission is complete.

More about the Swift spacecraft

The Swift spacecraft has three telescopes that watch the night sky. They are the Burst Alert Telescope, X-Ray Telescope and Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope.

The Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) is Swift’s wide-field gamma-ray detector. This telescope continuously monitors a large portion of the sky, watching for sudden flashes of high-energy gamma rays from gamma-ray bursts. When it detects a burst, it quickly calculates the object’s position and sends the coordinates to astronomers worldwide. It also directs the Swift spacecraft to rapidly turn toward the event for closer study.

Once Swift has slewed toward a newly detected gamma-ray burst, the X-Ray Telescope (XRT) takes over. It observes the burst’s fading X-ray afterglow. And it measures how its brightness changes over time and analyzes the energies of the emitted X-rays. Also, the XRT can pinpoint a burst’s location better than BAT and can continue tracking the event for days or even weeks. So the XRT helps scientists understand the physics of these powerful explosions and their environments.

Finally, the Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope studies gamma-ray bursts and other cosmic objects in ultraviolet and visible light. It provides Swift’s most precise positions for newly discovered bursts. It also captures details about their brightness, color and evolution. Overall, these observations help astronomers determine distances, identify host galaxies and better understand the nature of the explosions and other transient events Swift observes across the universe.

Bottom line: NASA’s LINK spacecraft launched earlier today from Kwajalein Atoll in the South Pacific Ocean. Its mission: to save the Swift space telescope from falling back to Earth.

Via NASA

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