NASA and Arizona-based startup Katalyst Space Technologies launched a robotic spacecraft over the Pacific Ocean on Thursday on a mission to rescue an aging NASA satellite observatory while demonstrating a new orbital grappling technology at the center of the U.S.-China space race.
The half-ton spacecraft called LINK was specially built to save the prized $500 million Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory by latching onto the crippled satellite and taking it to a higher, sustainable orbit, potentially extending its mission by years.
The observatory, also known as SWIFT, has been studying distant galaxies and black holes since 2004. It has no onboard propulsion capabilities and would otherwise drift naturally toward Earth and burn up in the atmosphere as soon as later this year.
Katalyst Space Technologies, headquartered in Flagstaff, Arizona, said it designed, constructed and tested the LINK vehicle on an unprecedented nine-month production schedule, under a $30 million NASA contract.
Some 40,000 feet over the Pacific at 1:36 a.m. PDT, a Northrop Grumman Pegasus rocket with LINK tucked into its cargo bay was released from the belly of a Lockheed TriStar jetliner and then soared into space.
The spacecraft is expected to fly for a month to reach the vicinity of NASA's orbiting observatory. By late July, LINK will fly to within roughly 6 miles of the languishing observatory before initiating its final approach. The autonomous spacecraft, equipped with three sets of thrusters and five sensor systems, will use its three robot arms — each fitted with hand-like grippers — to gently grab hold of the satellite.
Once LINK has firmly grasped the observatory, it should take another 60 days to tow it to its target altitude about 373 miles above Earth — double the height it will have fallen to just before rescue.
The SWIFT orbital boost effort, the first U.S. mission of its kind, is being closely watched as a trial run of a key satellite-maintenance technology with potential dual-use military applications. The Pentagon has been seeking similar capabilities, especially after China last year demonstrated two satellites orbiting in close proximity and a 2022 test in which one Chinese satellite grappled onto and yanked another into a different orbit.
Katalyst CEO Ghonhee Lee hailed the LINK mission as historic: 'A normal mission like this might have taken five years to put together, and we did it in under a year. You're showing that we can apply this to other national assets, other commercial assets, and then as a result we end up with a lot more flexibility and sustainability in space.'
Lee said the company envisions hundreds of robot spacecraft by the end of the decade 'constantly maneuvering between lower Earth orbit and the moon, building things, moving things.'
