NASA’s Swift Observatory is set for a crucial rescue mission after a spacecraft was successfully launched to boost its shrinking orbit. Northrop Grumman launched Katalyst Space Technologies’ Link spacecraft aboard a Pegasus rocket from the Marshall Islands on Friday.
The spacecraft is expected to reach Swift in about a month and raise its orbit by 240 kilometres, allowing the telescope to continue observing powerful cosmic events, including gamma-ray bursts and exploding stars. Swift, launched in 2004, has been losing altitude rapidly due to recent solar storms and was at risk of burning up in Earth’s atmosphere by October. NASA has invested 30 million US dollars in the mission.
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