Tag: Swift
-
Here’s how engineers plan to save the satellite sent to save NASA’s Swift mission
One week ago, more than 200 miles above the Earth, a refrigerator-size satellite making its way toward an attempted rescue of NASA’s $500 million Swift gamma-ray observatory suddenly spun out of control. It didn’t look good. The spacecraft, named Link, was rotating on multiple axes, rendering it unable to maintain a reliable communications link with…
-
Launch Preview: Swift rescue mission, final Atlas satellite launch
Several orbital launches are scheduled worldwide this week. A mission to rescue the Swift observatory spacecraft is planned along with the first full flight of a South Korean military launcher. This week could also see the final satellite launch by an Atlas family rocket. There is also an Electron launch from New Zealand. The Swift…
-
Pegasus XL set to air launch Swift Boost Mission to save NASA space telescope
In its first mission since 2021, a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket is scheduled to be air-launched from the Lockheed L-1011 TriStar Stargazer. Riding aboard Pegasus XL is NASA’s Swift Boost Mission, a mission utilizing a robotic servicing spacecraft from Katalyst Space Technologies to raise, or “boost,” the orbital altitude of NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory.…
-
Rescue mission for NASA’s $500 million space telescope passes key testing milestone
Engineers from Katalyst stabilize their Link robotic servicing spacecraft as it moves into a vibration chamber at NASA Goddard on April 15, 2026. The vibration chamber simulated the intense shaking Link will experience during launch. Image: NASA/Sophia Roberts A mission to prevent a $500 million NASA space observatory from meeting a fiery demise just passed…
-
A unique NASA satellite is falling out of orbit—this team is trying to rescue it
BROOMFIELD, Colorado—One of NASA’s oldest astronomy missions, the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, has been out of action for more than a month as scientists await the arrival of a pioneering robotic rescue mission. The 21-year-old spacecraft is falling out of orbit, and NASA officials believe it’s worth saving—for the right price. Swift is not a…
-
Using new data analysis tool on Swift, scientists discover black hole snacking on a star
Scientists, using NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, have discovered a black hole that is continuously snacking on a star that is similar to our Sun. Located in a galaxy around 500 million light-years away from Earth, the black hole’s constant nibbling on the star, a phenomenon known as a tidal disruption event, creates a bright…
-
Astronomers witness unprecedented corona formation, evolution around black hole
With help from NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescopic Array (NuSTAR) X-ray telescope, a group of researchers recently bore unusually close witness to the formation and evolution of an unexpected corona around a supermassive black hole as it destroyed a star that had passed too close to it. The event, located 250 million light years from Earth,…