Rescue satellite gets close to NASA's doomed telescope, even if it can't save it

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A private spacecraft that was supposed to provide a lifeline to NASA’s Swift Observatory managed to get close to the sinking telescope and even snap photos two weeks after the rescue was abandoned.

But the three-armed robotic salvager had to turn away because it was low on fuel, according to Katalyst Space Technologies, which attempted the daring operation.

“We got so close, but so far,” Katalyst CEO Ghonhee Lee told The Associated Press this week.

Katalyst’s Link spacecraft got within 15 kilometers (9 miles) of Swift on Tuesday, using its sensors to gather data on the doomed telescope for NASA. The rescue effort had already been called off in August because of Link’s own troubles in orbit, but the company wanted the practice for future satellite-servicing missions.

Link went into an uncontrollable spin soon after rocketing to Swift’s rescue in July. Flight controllers managed to slow the tumble and stabilize the spacecraft, using up precious fuel. In the end, there was not enough fuel remaining to boost the aging Swift into a higher, longer-lasting orbit so it could continue observing the cosmos.

Lee blamed Link’s problems on the rush to get it flying. The mission was put together in just nine months, and engineers often had to use whatever was available instead of waiting for the preferred parts, he said.

NASA paid the company $30 million to carry out the attempt, which was always going to be rushed. Both sides viewed it as an experiment with little to lose, although no one wanted a collision that would unleash clouds of space debris.

“Unfortunately, it wasn’t the outcome that we were expecting,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said following Sunday’s launch of the Roman Space Telescope. “But that’s exactly the type of missions that we should be flying at NASA. We will learn from that.”

Isaacman said it makes sense to extend the life of a valuable spacecraft, especially if salvaging it costs less than replacing it. That is why the Roman telescope was designed to be refueled even though it is headed toward an observation point 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers) away.

It is unlikely that Link has enough fuel left to attempt another close approach to Swift, according to Lee. But it can continue exercising its three 3-foot (1-meter) arms and providing important data before it reenters the atmosphere and burns up in the next few weeks, he said.

Launched in 2004, Swift has a little more time remaining in orbit, depending on how active the sun is. Intense solar storms in recent years are responsible for bringing the telescope down much sooner than expected. As of Friday, its orbit had dropped to 208 miles (335 kilometers), barely half as high as when it set out to scan some of the biggest explosions in the universe.

NASA anticipates Swift will plunge through the atmosphere sometime between October and the end of the year. The space agency resumed observations with the telescope last week after halting them early this year to conserve precious power.

Like Swift’s, the Hubble Space Telescope’s orbit also has been lowered by solar activity. Katalyst is developing a next-generation spacecraft that could boost the 36-year-old Hubble into a longer-lasting orbit.

“Hubble does still have a few years of life yet, right? So the good news is this isn’t imminent,” Lee said.

Servicing old telescopes and other satellites used to be “a very, very niche concept,” he added, “and we believe it’s going to become more and more commonplace.”

This story was updated to correct that the close approach happened Tuesday, not last weekend, based on updated information from Katalyst Space Technologies.