A mission to rescue one of NASA’s storied space observatories from falling to Earth has launched on a daring, first-of-its-kind endeavor. The Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, which has studied an array of cosmic objects across multiple wavelengths of light for nearly 22 years, is at risk of falling to Earth due to atmospheric drag and recent solar activity.

The Rescue Mission

The Swift operations team at Penn State University’s Eberly College of Science has reduced power usage and steered the observatory to eye the cosmos from a more streamlined position. However, once sinking below an optimal altitude of about 185 miles above Earth, Swift is likely to reenter our planet’s atmosphere this fall, according to NASA’s predictions.

After realizing that the Swift mission might come to an end much sooner than anticipated, NASA put out a call for proposals for a solution. The agency selected Arizona-based Katalyst Space Technologies for the task, giving the company just nine months to design, build, test, and launch a spacecraft capable of rendezvousing with Swift and boosting its orbit.

The LINK Satellite

The robotic satellite, named LINK, launched from a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket and will conduct a survey of Swift to determine the best grappling points on the observatory. After securing Swift in its grasp, LINK will carefully fire its three ion thrusters, aiming to boost the observatory slowly back to its original orbit over the course of two to three months.

If all goes according to plan, Swift will resume its full suite of scientific observations, rather than operating in its current limited capacity, by fall. The observatory was named for fast-flying swift birds due to its ability to pivot rapidly to look at cosmic events and afterglows, enabling the study of comets, gravitational waves, and black holes over long periods of time.

Original reporting: KEYT (Ventura/Santa Barbara) — read the source article.