NASA launched an emergency mission to prevent the Swift Observatory from colliding with Earth

The Swift Observatory was launched in 2004, but recent solar storms have pushed its orbit downward, and it is at risk of burning up in Earth’s atmosphere as soon as this year. To try and Prevent its demiseNASA has Soldier Catalyst Space Technologies. The company’s Link spacecraft launched on Friday with the aim of intercepting the Swift spacecraft, which has no propulsion system Strengthening its orbit Return to its original position. Currently, Swift orbits at an altitude of 224 miles, and Link aims to raise that altitude by about 150 miles.

Using a three-armed spacecraft to lift a satellite 150 miles into orbit is difficult enough, but the speed with which Katalyst pulled the mission together makes it even more impressive. NASA asked the company to speed up the mission because SWIFT would be too low to be available by October. $30 million and nine months later, the aid is on track to receive $500 million from SWIFT.