SALT LAKE CITY—Encouraged by the growing technical prowess of the U.S. commercial space industry, NASA is considering buying a small satellite servicing mission to reboost its Swift telescope in low Earth orbit.
Now known as the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory—a nod to its original principal scientist—the telescope was launched on Nov. 20, 2004, to study gamma-ray bursts (GRB) and other high-energy cosmic phenomena.
GRBs stem from the most powerful explosions in the universe—the deaths of massive stars, the formation of black holes, and the crashes and mergers of systems containing orbiting neutron stars or black holes.
From its perch in low Earth orbit (LEO) Swift’s three telescopes operate simultaneously to observe GRBs and their afterglows in gamma-ray, X-ray, ultraviolet and visible light. The observatory can detect and localize a GRB to within a tenth of a degree and then relay the position to the ground within 20 sec. for follow-up studies by other telescopes.
Swift then rapidly pivots back to where it first detected the burst to observe the explosion’s afterglow in X-ray and ultraviolet. Swift finds about 100 GRBs per year, a track record that has prompted NASA to repeatedly extend its original two-year mission.
Swift started off in a stable orbit ranging between 585-604 mi. above Earth and inclined 20.6 deg. relative to the equator. But—like all spacecraft in low Earth orbit (LEO)—Swift’s altitude is descending due to friction from hitting atmospheric molecules shot into space by heightened solar activity.
Swift, which is not outfitted with a propulsion system to boost its orbit, currently circles 278-283 mi. above Earth. Without intervention, NASA predicts it will enter the atmosphere in late 2026.
Swift’s salvation depends on a proposed small satellite servicing mission that would need to take place around June 2026. If successful, a Swift reboost mission would not only extend the life of a productive, operational space telescope, it also would demonstrate an emerging multiuse, commercially developed technology for the space domain—several technologies, actually.
One proposal under study pairs a novel electroadhesion-based pad developed by Cambrian Works of Reston, Virginia, with flight-tested technologies for rendezvous, proximity operations and docking (RPOD) that have been developed and demonstrated by Denver-based Astroscale US.
Cambrian’s electric Thin Attachment Pad (eTAP) is suited for in-space servicing missions that do not require advance preparation of the spacecraft surface, Kaila Crowder, Cambrian’s director of strategic development and principal systems engineer, said Aug. 13 at the SmallSat conference here.
Reboosting Swift “would validate eTAP both for operational servicing and provide a pathfinder for potential future operational mobility servicing missions,” Crowder added.
Cambrian Works is developing a spacecraft known as Spidee to support missions to detumble and provide space mobility for defunct satellites and/or rocket bodies, among other missions. Astroscale, founded in Tokyo to develop technologies for orbital debris removal, has twice demonstrated rendezvous and proximity operations during 2021 and 2024 flight tests.
Astroscale’s upcoming contracts include two refuelings of a spacecraft in geostationary orbit for the U.S. Space Force, with launch slated for summer 2026—about the same time as a Swift reboost mission would occur, if approved.
“A successful Swift orbit boost would not only extend the mission of one of NASA’s most productive science assets, but also serve as a demonstration of U.S.-developed, commercially led capabilities that can be applied to future government and commercial spacecraft,” Astroscale US President Ron Lopez said in a statement.
NASA on Aug. 12 awarded $150,000 study contracts for Swift reboost mission concepts to Cambrian and Katalyst Space Technologies of Flagstaff, Arizona, which proposes to use its robotic servicing spacecraft to phase, rendezvous, capture and raise its orbit so science operations can continue. Katalyst also is eying the Swift mission to showcase tactically responsive space and sustained space maneuver capabilities of interest to the Defense Department, among others.
Both awards are through NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program, managed by the Space Technology Mission Directorate. NASA also is working with Tukwila, Washington-based Starfish Space under an existing SBIR program to assess its Small Spacecraft Propulsion and Inspection Capability technology to reboost Swift. Starfish Space is developing its Otter space tug to support programs for the Space Force and Intelsat, along with NASA.
NASA said it expects to complete evaluation of the concept studies and make decisions about Swift’s future this fall.
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