Link thruster malfunction hampers NASA's rushed Swift telescope rescue mission
Technology
NASA's rush to save its aging Swift telescope just ran into trouble.
The Link satellite, launched to push Swift into a safer orbit, is having thruster problems, so it's spinning out of control and hard to talk to.
This mission was put together in under a year because Swift is dropping fast thanks to recent solar activity, forcing NASA to pause its space discoveries for now.
Katalyst says Link mission remains viable
Even with the thruster glitch, Katalyst (the company behind Link) says other systems are working fine and they're not giving up hope.
"The mission remains active and we continue to believe that with these changes, Link has a viable path," Katalyst shared.
Both teams are racing against time since Swift can't get back to studying cosmic explosions until its orbit is fixed.