The Spacecraft NASA Sent To Rescue The Falling Swift Observatory Is In Trouble

In early July, NASA launched a spacecraft designed to rescue the Swift observatory, which is currently decaying at a faster rate than normal, in hopes that it could still collect data for scientists over the coming years. But now that spacecraft itself is in trouble, and the fate of the mission remains unclear. In an update on the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory blog, NASA has revealed that the spacecraft called LINK experienced attitude control issues last weekend, meaning it had problems managing its orientation in space. That caused the spacecraft to spin, which in turn resulted to sporadic communications.

LINK was built by Arizona company Katalyst Space. It’s a robotic spacecraft that was designed to dock with the Swift observatory and to tug it into a high orbit to give it a few more years of life. While all spacecraft in orbit eventually lose altitude and burn up in our atmosphere, Swift has been experiencing more atmospheric drag than anticipated due to increased solar activity over the past couple of years. It’s falling faster than usual, and NASA’s tests showed that it’s going to re-enter our atmosphere sometime this year, unless it intervenes. 

In its update, NASA says two of LINK’s three reaction wheels (or flywheels that control a spacecraft’s orientation) aren’t operable at the moment. There is also some loss of functionality in its cold gas thruster system. Thankfully, the ground team still has communication with LINK, and it’s planning to use the spacecraft’s electric propulsion thrusters to try and stop its spinning over the coming days. After that, the team has to reestablish the spacecraft’s guidance and navigation to account for its new configuration before Katalyst and NASA can determine whether it can still rescue the Swift observatory. Either way, the team has to tweak its plans based on LINK’s condition. 

Despite this complication, Katalyst is optimistic that the spacecraft can accomplish its main goal. “The mission remains active and we continue to believe that with these changes, LINK has a viable path to rendezvous with Swift,” the company says on its website.