The LINK robotic servicing spacecraft, built by Katalyst Space and designed to capture and boost NASAтАЩs Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory arrived at the agencyтАЩs Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia on Friday, June 5.
Inside NASA WallopsтАЩ Horizontal Integration Facility, Northrop Grumman engineers will install the satellite into one of the companyтАЩs Pegasus XL rockets ahead of launch.
All spacecraft in low Earth orbit experience drag caused by our planetтАЩs atmosphere. As a result, satellites without propulsion systems to counteract this effect gradually lose altitude and fall toward Earth.
Recent increased solar activity magnified the impact of atmospheric drag on Swift, causing it to sink faster than anticipated.
NASA contracted Katalyst to boost the 21-year-old observatory back to a higher altitude, pioneering a new servicing capability for the nationтАЩs spacecraft fleet and allowing Swift to resume science observations.
After loading LINK into the Pegasus XL, Northrop Grumman will attach the rocket to the bottom of Stargazer, the companyтАЩs modified L-1011 aircraft.
Stargazer will deploy Pegasus XL from above Kwajalein Atoll, part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands in the South Pacific Ocean, later this month. The rocket will deliver the LINK spacecraft to an orbit where it can reach Swift.
As activities on the ground have raced to get LINK to Swift, the observatory team has been continuously┬аmaking SwiftтАЩs orientation more aerodynamic to preserve altitude.
Learn more about the Swift mission at:
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/swift/
By Jeanette Kazmierczak
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
