"NASA officials are facing that exact predicament as the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory is set to fall from its orbit at the end of 2026, - but the agency has green lit an audacious plan that's one for the history books: a plane drops a rocket in mid air that's carrying a robotic satellite, which will then blast into space and boost the telescope's altitude, thereby saving it."
"The company will be using Northrop Grumman's L-1011 Stargazer aircraft, a former passenger airliner, to ferry the Pegasus XL air-launched rocket to an altitude of 39,000 feet. In mid-flight, the airplane will then drop the Pegasus rocket, which will fire its thrusters, venture into space, and release the robotic Katalyst spacecraft close to the location of the Swift telescope. The robotic spacecraft will then rendezvous with and capture the space telescope,"
NASA faces the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory's orbital decay, with the telescope expected to reenter at the end of 2026 unless its altitude is raised. Katalyst Space Technologies will conduct a June 2026 mission using Northrop Grumman's L-1011 Stargazer to air-drop a Pegasus XL rocket from 39,000 feet. The Pegasus will ignite, climb to space, and release a robotic Katalyst spacecraft near Swift. The robotic craft will rendezvous with, capture, and boost Swift into a higher orbit to extend the telescope's operations by more than ten years. The mission compresses typical two-year planning into months and is treated as a firm commitment.
Read at Futurism
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