NASA has announced plans to deploy an independent rescue mission to lift the orbit of the space station with the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory Galaxy, which is falling rapidly due to atmospheric friction after two decades of operation.
The agency has chosen Katalyst Space Technologies to carry out the upgrade mission, because Swift does not have a self-adjusted engine system and is at risk of falling back to Earth by the end of 2026. Katalyst plans to use the Pegasus, a missile developed by Northrop Grumman, launched from an L-1011 Stargazer aircraft at an altitude of about 12,000m before turning the engine on.
The Swift satellite glasses, worth $500 million and launched in 2004, are designed to study gamma ray explosions from low Earth orbit. Initially operating at an altitude of about 600km, Swift has now dropped to an altitude of about 400km. NASA has no mission that can replace this satellite Galaxy, so saving Swift becomes an urgent requirement to maintain the ability to observe extremely strong cosmic phenomena.
Katalyst won the rescue package bid and said Pegasus was a suitable solution because it could meet the requirements of trajectory, progress and cost. Accordingly, this is the only option to ensure the completion of the target with the new technology.
Pegasus is capable of bringing about 454kg of matter to low Earth orbit and has completed 45 missions, most of which were successful. The spacecraft's most recent launch in 2021 sent a space monitoring satellite into orbit for the US Space Force. Most of the upcoming missions' hardware is ready, according to Kurt Eberly, the company's space launch director.
