NASA will no longer attempt to save its aging Swift space telescope
NASA has spent $30 million US in an attempt to raise the sinking Swift Observatory, which has been operating for 20 years, but on Wednesday called off the rescue mission.
On August 19, NASA and Katalyst Space terminated their joint mission to rescue the aging SWIFT observatory due to technical problems with the rescue spacecraft. The LINK spacecraft, tasked with raising the telescope's orbit, encountered irreparable issues while in space. Following thorough monitoring and evaluation, both parties concluded that the ongoing attitude control problems rendered the mission infeasible.
Katalyst Space announced in a statement that the rescue operation would not proceed, as the spacecraft's inability to maintain proper orientation prevented the capture and boost of NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory.
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- NASA, Katalyst call off SWIFT rescue mission over issues with rescue craft in space channelnewsasia.com
- Rescue mission for ageing Nasa space telescope fails scmp.com
- NASA satellite rescue mission fails, swift telescope set to fall to earth france24.com
- Katalyst Space and NASA abandon plans for Swift reboost spacenews.com
- NASA's Swift telescope will plunge toward Earth after rescue mission called off cbsnews.com
