NASA launches robot rescue of orbital observatory

A NASA mission to raise the orbit of a sinking spacecraft began with a takeoff from the Marshall Islands early Friday. A robotic spacecraft named LINK launched into orbit atop a booster rocket after an aircraft carried it to an altitude of 40,000 feet. The robot’s objective is to save the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, a 22-year-old spacecraft whose orbit has dropped faster than expected due to solar activity. If the observatory drops too low, it could burn up in Earth’s atmosphere.

The launch was originally scheduled for Tuesday but was repeatedly pushed back due to weather conditions and a tech problem. Monitoring teams successfully established communications with LINK on Friday after the launch. If the mission goes as planned, Katalyst Space, which built the LINK spacecraft, will spend the next few weeks testing its systems. After the checks, LINK will conduct a survey of the Swift Observatory before grabbing the observatory with its robotic arms. Over a few months, the spacecraft will attempt to slowly push the observatory into a higher orbit, according to NASA.

What does the Swift Observatory do? Launched in 2004, the observatory tracks gamma-ray bursts. Such bursts are the most powerful explosions known to exist in the universe, but what causes them remains poorly understood. The observatory shut down most of its science operations in February to reduce atmospheric drag. If LINK successfully rescues the observatory, NASA can restart its systems, though it could take more than a month to regain full operability, according to the U.S. space agency.

Dig deeper: Read my report on the astronauts selected to man NASA’s Artemis III mission next year.