NASA launched an emergency mission to stop the Swift Observatory from crashing to Earth

What happened

According to The Verge’s linked source, NASA launched an emergency mission to stop the Swift Observatory from crashing to Earth, The Swift Observatory was launched in 2004, but recent solar storms have pushed its orbit lower, and it’s in danger of burning up in Earth’s atmosphere as soon as this year. To try and stave off its demise, NASA has enlisted Katalyst Space Technologies. The company’s Link spacecraft launched Friday with the goal of intercepting […] Engineers from Katalyst Space Technologies testing Link. | Image: NASA/Scott Wiessinger The Swift Observatory was launched in 2004, but recent solar storms have pushed its orbit lower, and it’s in danger of burning up in Earth’s atmosphere as soon as this year. To try and stave off its demise , NASA has enlisted Katalyst Space Technologies. The company’s Link spacecraft launched Friday with the goal of intercepting Swift, which has no propulsion system, and boosting its orbit back to its original position. Right now, Swift is circling at an altitude of 2

Context

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Source

Primary source: NASA launched an emergency mission to stop the Swift Observatory from crashing to Earth via The Verge. VINI cites and links the source; it does not reproduce the publisher’s full article text without rights clearance.