NASA successfully launches the Swift unmanned deep space observatory after a small delay. Carrying three different instrument packages, Swift’s mission is specifically to observe, categorize and study the aftereffects of gamma ray bursts. The satellite is designed to aim itself at any such bursts that it detects within mere seconds so it can catch the short-lived aftereffects and relay its findings to ground controllers. It is believed that some of the bursts are caused by the dying collapse of stars, and possibly the formation of black holes, and as such may be some of the most powerful energy releases known in nature. Swift is expected to observe as many as 100 gamma ray bursts per year.
Developed in under a year to rendezvous, dock with, and boost the orbit of NASA’s aging Swift Space Telescope, Katalyst Space’s LINK spacecraft is launched. Riding a Pegasus XL rocket launched from an airborne aircraft, LINK arrives in orbit and passes its initial checkout phase, getting the greenlight to proceed to its rendezvous. The Swift Telescope was launched in 2004, and has proven to be one of NASA’s most productive orbiting observatories. In a scenario not unlike that which doomed the Skylab space station in 1979, solar flare activity has caused expansion of Earth’s atmosphere, increasing drag on the Swift spacecraft. Taking a month to reach Swift, LINK is expected to grapple onto the older spacecraft and fire its thrusters to push Swift into a higher orbit, where the otherwise perfectly functional telescope can continue its campaign of observations for years to come. (LINK’s mission also bears some resemblance to