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A Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket will air-launch from its L-1011 "Stargazer" carrier aircraft to deploy the Swift Reboost mission of Katalyst for NASA in orbit. Swift's orbit has decayed considerably over the years, from an initial 600km to about 400km. Its descent is accelerating due to atmospheric drag and it would experience reentry around the end of 2026, so a rescue mission was designed. The Katalyst spacecraft, named Link, will head to an orbit similar to that of Swift, then spend two to three weeks closing in on the observatory. The boost vehicle will inspect its target and once its state is understood, the rescuer, which is about 1.5m tall and weighs 350kg, will close in and capture Swift using its three robotic arms. This will be challenging, as the NASA observatory was not designed to be serviced. After a successful capture, the Katalyst spacecraft will haul Swift back up to its initial altitude of ~600km, which will boost its lifetime by another ~20 years. The Swift observatory was built by Orbital Sciences, a company that in 2014 became Orbital ATK, which was then acquired by Northrop Grumman in 2018. The triple-engine carrier aircraft is expected to take off about an hour before launch time.
📍 Bucholz Army Airfield, Kwajalein Atoll, Marshallinseln