LOS ANGELES, July 3 (Xinhua) -- NASA launched a mission on Friday to raise the orbit of the agency's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, extending the operational life of the satellite.
LINK, a robotic servicing spacecraft built by Katalyst Space, was launched into orbit aboard a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket at 4:36 a.m. Eastern Time Friday from Kwajalein Atoll in the South Pacific Ocean. The air-launched rocket was released at an altitude of about 12,200 meters by the company's Stargazer, a modified L-1011 aircraft, before igniting its engine and carrying LINK into its planned orbit.
According to NASA, Earth's atmosphere creates drag on spacecraft in low Earth orbit, gradually lowering their altitude if they lack propulsion systems to maintain their orbits. Increased solar activity in recent years has accelerated the orbital decay of the Swift Observatory, causing it to lose altitude faster than expected.
NASA awarded Katalyst Space the contract last September to boost the observatory's orbit. In less than a year, the company designed, built, tested and launched LINK, which is designed to rendezvous with Swift Observatory, capture it, and raise it to a higher orbit.
Following LINK's successful insertion into orbit on Friday, the mission team will first acquire a signal from the spacecraft to confirm that its solar arrays have deployed properly and that its power systems are functioning normally, NASA said.
Launched in 2004, the Swift Observatory studies gamma-ray bursts -- the most powerful explosions in the universe -- as well as other high-energy cosmic phenomena. It houses three multi-wavelength telescopes, collecting data in visible, ultraviolet, X-ray, and gamma-ray light, according to NASA. ■
