CE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The mission to save NASA’s sinking Swift Observatory was called off Wednesday, dooming the telescope to a fiery reentry later this year.
NASA and Katalyst Space Technologies announced the news more than a month after the startup’s Link spacecraft rocketed away to the telescope’s rescue . NASA said this means the telescope will plunge through the atmosphere after more than 20 years of tracking some of the biggest explosions in the universe like gamma ray bursts and exploding stars. Because of problems with controlling the spacecraft, katalyst said Link will not attempt to capture Swift and boost it to a higher orbit.
“This is not the outcome we were working toward, but it does not change why this mission was worth attempting,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in a statement.
NASA paid $30 million to Katalyst in an attempt to raise the telescope to a safer, longer-lasting orbit. Because of all the sun’s recent outbursts, the 36-year-old Hubble is also dropping in orbit. Intense solar activity caused it to lose altitude faster than expected. The rescue spacecraft went into an uncontrollable spin a few weeks after its liftoff in early July. issues continued to plague its pointing and positioning in orbit While flight controllers managed to slow Link’s tumble. NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope could benefit from an orbital boost and had been next in line for a rescue attempt had this mission gone well. It wasn’t immediately known whether Hubble is now out of luck.
