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Katalyst Space makes progress in restoring control of Swift servicing spacecraft
['Jeff Foust', 'More Jeff Foust']
SpaceNews
Katalyst said it was planning to upload a “significant flight software update” in the coming days to allow for attitude control in the spacecraft’s current configuration.
That will allow the company’s engineers to restore full attitude control of the spacecraft and resume plans to head toward NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory.
The company has not said more about what caused Link to lose attitude control weeks after its July 3 launch on a Pegasus rocket.
The $30 million mission is the first attempt by Katalyst, a satellite servicing company, to grapple another satellite and boost it.
Without Link, Swift is expected to deorbit late this year or early next year, as the 22-year-old spacecraft lacks the ability to raise its own orbit.