Scott Wiessinger / NASA
Katalyst Space’s LINK probe undergoing testing at the Goddard Space Flight Center
As it prepares to try to raise the orbit of an astronomical observatory on a deteriorating trajectory, NASA admits doing something similar with Hubble, as long as it is possible to reduce its operating costs. But the mythical space telescope was built in another era…
NASA announced on June 5 that the new LINK robotic spacecraft, built by , has arrived at the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The spacecraft was at the Katalyst facility in Colorado for final preparations after completing environmental testing at the Goddard Space Flight Center last month.
The North American space agency awarded Katalyst, last September, a 30 million contracts of dollars to develop and launch Link. At the end of the month, the probe should be launched into space, on a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket.
Once in orbit, the spacecraft must get closer and get closer to NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, a gamma-ray observatory whose low Earth orbit is lose altitude due to atmospheric drag.
A Link will attempt to raise Swif’s orbitt, so that he can continue his observations. The agency recognizes that this is a high risk mission: The ship will be Katalyst’s first mission, and the Swift was not designed to receive in-orbit maintenance.
“This has always been an effort with little chance of success. Any time you try to go from the boardroom to the launch pad in a year, you take on a lot of risk, and that’s where we are,” he said Shawn Domagal-Goldmandirector of NASA’s astrophysics division, during a meeting of the Astronomy and Astrophysics Advisory Committee on June 1.
Still, note a, NASA decided to move forward with the project, due to the return on investment that could result of extending the life of the Swift at a fraction of the cost of replacing it.
“We also think it is a good way to signal to the commercial community that there is demand and that we are available to do these types of things when they make sense from a return on investment point of view,” he added Domagal-Goldman.
This possibility may include raising the orbit of a much larger spacecraft: or mythical Hubble Space Telescopewhose orbit is also gradually degrading.
At a conference of the American Astronomical Society in January, Jennifer Lotzdirector of the Space Telescope Science Institute, stated that orbital models pointed to a Earth re-entry date in 2033.
According to Domagal-Goldman, the effort to raise Swift’s orbit offers a template for Hubbland. “Not only are these orbital lift operations now available to us as an agency, but the costs are lower than I expected,” he said. “This makes the return on investment more attractive”.
There is, however, a problem: the high Hubble operating cost. NASA spent 98.8 million dollars with the telescope in fiscal year 2025, second only to the James Webb Space Telescope.
“It was built in another era and is more expensive maintain it and extract the best possible science from it,” explains Domagal-Goldman.
NASA’s Science Mission Directorate has sought to address the costs of extended missionsand agency officials have discussed the intention to reduce expenses to free up financing for new missions.
Domagal-Goldman says NASA will have to find a way to lower Hubble’s operating costs to make raising its orbit viable.
“We are open to raising Hubble’s orbit,” he said. “Therefore, we must first understandHow will we reduce operating costsThe person responsible did not specify what cost reduction NASA intended.
If this is possible, he added, Hubble could continue to operate for many more years after its orbit is raised. “It could be a good bridge to the Habitable Worlds Observatory,” the next large optical and ultraviolet space telescope that NASA is developing for launch in the 2040s.
