Chips & Hardware
NASA-hired Katalyst spacecraft tumbles out of control in orbit
Katalyst Space's LINK spacecraft, hired by NASA to raise the Swift Observatory to a higher orbit, began spinning uncontrollably after failures in two of its three reaction wheels.
A Katalyst Space robot launched to grab hold of a NASA space telescope and boost it into a higher orbit has tumbled out of control after a series of failures, NASA and the company said. Katalyst is working to stabilize the spacecraft using back-up systems before NASA decides whether the mission can continue. It’s the first time NASA has hired a private company to lift one of its space telescopes to a higher orbit, extending the observatory’s operations beyond its expected lifespan.
The target is the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, launched in 2004 to swiftly point at ephemeral space events like gamma-ray bursts. The spacecraft has been pulled back toward Earth and needs to be pushed to a higher orbit to keep working. Katalyst’s LINK spacecraft launched July 3 on a Northrop Grumman Pegasus rocket, and flight controllers spent the following weeks commissioning its systems ahead of a planned rendezvous with Swift.
Over the weekend, the spacecraft ran into trouble controlling itself and began spinning, according to NASA, which has resulted in sporadic communications with the satellite, likely because its antenna flips away from the planet. Two of the spacecraft’s three reaction wheels — which control its alignment — have failed, and one of its thruster systems is also having problems. Flight controllers are using a separate set of thrusters to slow the spin. “We have already begun this series of burns and are seeing the intended effect,” they said in a statement. Katalyst told TechCrunch the mission remains active and it continues to move forward with plans to rendezvous with Swift.
Katalyst’s principal investigator for the mission, Kieran Wilson, told reporters ahead of launch that the spacecraft had been built quickly because of the urgent need to raise Swift within a few months, and that the effort was challenging and risky — noting that spacecraft with far longer development cycles and far more funding have failed for mundane reasons. Katalyst raised a $12 million round in June, backed by Fortitude Ventures and Geodesic Capital, and has also won funding from the U.S. military, which is interested in a dynamic vehicle that can service satellites or surveil rival spacecraft.
Why it matters
This is the first real-world test of a private company servicing a NASA science satellite in orbit — a stumble here could shape how much NASA is willing to outsource future satellite life-extension missions to commercial providers.