Spacecraft on Rescue Mission Is in Trouble

The spacecraft rushing to the rescue of an aging and sinking NASA telescope has run into its own problem. Katalyst Space Technologies says its Link satellite is experiencing thruster problems and has gone into an uncontrollable spin that is disrupting communication, the AP reports. The trouble struck over the weekend, three weeks after the three-armed robotic spacecraft blasted into orbit, Katalyst said Tuesday. The startup company said it's working nonstop to get Link back in action so it can capture Swift and boost the telescope to a higher orbit.

• Neither Katalyst nor NASA is giving up hope. All of Link's other major subsystems appear to be doing fine, according to the company. "The mission remains active and we continue to believe that with these changes, Link has a viable path to rendezvous with Swift," Katalyst said in a statement.

"The team is working to stop LINK's spin over the next few days, using the spacecraft's electric propulsion thrusters," NASA said. "After reestablishing stable attitude and further investigating spacecraft status, Katalyst plans to update LINK's guidance, navigation, and control to accommodate the spacecraft's new configuration." The Katalyst team will then work closely with NASA teams to "evaluate revised plans to approach and capture Swift," the agency said. Swift will crash back to Earth this fall without help. NASA is paying $30 million for the rescue effort, which was thrown together in under a year.

Launched in 2004, Swift is descending faster than expected because of recent solar activity. It needs a lift as soon as possible in order to continue scanning the universe for some of the biggest explosions, including gamma ray bursts and exploded stars. Scientific observations are on hold until then. NASA is also using the rescue mission as a demonstration of technology, Ars Technica notes. "From a programmatics standpoint, I consider this a success already, just from the fact that we're even going to try this," Shawn Domagal-Goldman, director of NASA's astrophysics division, said last month.