amelia.crossley
Administrator
A space tug was developed to extend its mission, but it burned up in the atmosphere.
In July, NASA launched the 400-kilogram robotic space tug Link to extend the life of its legendary Swift observatory. However, the mission went awry from the start: the robot began spinning uncontrollably, causing it to deorbit and burn up in Earth's atmosphere.
Now the same fate awaits Swift itself, which has been orbiting our planet for over 20 years, studying space and providing scientists with invaluable data. Its orbit is rapidly declining.
According to updated information from the agency, the spacecraft is currently at an altitude of approximately 320 kilometers. This altitude could drop below 297 kilometers as early as October, after which continued scientific observations will be impossible.
Nevertheless, the mission team is squeezing the maximum out of the spacecraft. Scientists have restarted the Burst Alert Telescope, which was shut down in the spring to conserve power, and restored the observatory's automatic targeting of gamma-ray bursts—the extremely high-energy flashes it was designed to study.
However, as NASA noted, "a return to scientific research has caused Swift to resume its rapid decline," which does not bode well for its future.
Some structures may survive re-entry into the atmosphere, but the threat to humans is minimal, experts emphasized. As explained by space debris tracking company LeoLabs, the debris is most likely to fall into the ocean or onto uninhabited land.
Despite the setback, Katalyst Space, the company that developed LINK, remains optimistic.
"While we didn't achieve all of our goals, in less than a year we went from mission concept to launching and operating the first commercial space robot. This is the foundation upon which we can build for the future," said Katalyst Space CEO Kung Hee Lee.
