Space.com reports NASA officially ended the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory mission. Katalyst Space Technologies’ LINK spacecraft, built on a $30 million contract, tried to grab Swift and boost its orbit. Propulsion and reaction wheel trouble started it spinning about three weeks after its July 3 launch. It got within about 12 to 15 km and took photos, but couldn’t capture it.
Swift took its last data on October 20 and should reenter “in the next few weeks.” Designed for two years, it ran more than 20, seeing more than 2,000 gamma-ray bursts and 1,400 supernovae and feeding about 7,000 papers.
My take
Sad to see it go, but what a run. And it was a bold first try at servicing a satellite that was never built to be serviced.
God Bless, and Needs Garlic!
