NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, facing the risk of an uncontrolled dive back to Earth, is set for a rescue ride on a Pegasus XL, the air-dropped rocket that hasn’t flown since 2021.<\/p>\n
Flagstaff-based Katalyst has announced<\/a> that the rocket to launch its LINK spacecraft on a rescue mission will be Northrop Grumman’s Pegasus XL air-launched vehicle. Assuming the mission launches in June 2026 as planned, it will be five years since the last flight of the Pegasus XL.<\/p>\n Time is running out for the venerable NASA observatory. In September, the agency reckoned there was a 50 percent chance of an uncontrolled reentry by mid-2026, increasing to 90 percent by the end of the year. Although the spacecraft was launched in 2004, it remains operational and could continue to capture data on gamma-ray bursts if boosted to a higher orbit.<\/p>\n NASA awarded<\/a> Katalyst Space Technologies a $30 million contract<\/a> to mount a rescue. The plan then was an orbit boost in spring 2026. Swift was never designed to be serviced in space, and the mission will be a first \u2013 the first time a commercial robotic spacecraft will capture an uncrewed government satellite.<\/p>\n While the choice of the Pegasus XL as a launch vehicle might raise an eyebrow or two, given the length of time since its last mission, there is logic in the selection. Swift’s orbit has a 20.6\u00b0 inclination; it is tricky to reach from US launch sites, where most small rockets are limited to inclinations above around 27\u00b0.<\/p>\n Ghonhee Lee, CEO of Katalyst, said, “Pegasus is the kind of uniquely capable launcher we need for this mission.<\/p>\n “It’s the only launch vehicle that can meet the orbit, the schedule, and the cost to achieve something unprecedented with emerging technology.”<\/p>\n Those three factors are key. While something like a Falcon 9 could get Katalyst’s spacecraft to the desired orbit, it’s unlikely that it could do it for less than the price of a Pegasus XL dropped at 39,000 feet from the last flying Lockheed L-1011 Tristar (dubbed “Stargazer”).<\/p>\n Kurt Eberly, director of space launch for Northrop Grumman, said, “The versatility offered by Pegasus’ unique air-launch capability provides customers with a space launch solution that can be rapidly deployed anywhere on Earth to reach any orbit.<\/p>\n “The stringent mission requirements necessary to save the Swift observatory, including the unique low-inclination orbit and the tight mission timeline, all pointed to Pegasus being the perfect choice.”<\/p>\n Neither Katalyst nor Northrop Grumman has shared the launch cost, although it will have had to be priced keenly to fit within the $30 million budget allocated to the mission. \u00ae<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, facing the risk of an uncontrolled dive back to Earth, is set for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":272957,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[90,416,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-272956","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-space","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272956\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}