Katalyst Space Robot Tumbles Out of Control After Series of Failures

A Katalyst Space robot that was launched to grab on to a space telescope and raise it to a higher orbit tumbled out of control after a series of failures, NASA and the company said today. The company is trying to stabilize the spacecraft using back-up systems, before NASA will decide if the mission can continue. This is the first time the space agency has hired a private company to lift one of its space telescopes to a higher orbit, allowing the observatory to continue operations beyond its expected lifespan. The Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory was launched in 2004, with the ability to swiftly point at ephemeral space events like gamma ray bursts. The spacecraft has been pulled back toward Earth and needs to be pushed back up to a higher orbit to continue doing its job. The LINK spacecraft was launched into space on July 3 on board a Northrop Grumman Pegasus rocket. Over the past several weeks, flight controllers have worked to commission the spacecraft, activating its various systems before it heads off to rendezvous with Swift. However, the spacecraft suffered issues controlling itself and began spinning over the weekend. According to NASA, the spinning has resulted in “sporadic communications” with the satellite, likely because its antenna flips away from the planet. Two of the three reaction wheels that control the spacecraft’s alignment aren’t working, and there are problems with one of the spacecraft’s thruster systems. Katalyst says that its engineers believe that problems with the satellite’s electrical power system led to the reaction wheels failing to operate as planned. Flight controllers are working to recover the spacecraft using another set of thrusters on the spacecraft to slow the spin, and they said in a statement that “we have already begun this series of burns and are seeing the intended effect.” Katalyst told TechCrunch that “this remains an active mission, and we continue to move forward with plans to rendezvous with Swift.” Katalyst’s Kieran Wilson, the principal investigator for the mission, told reporters ahead of the mission that the spacecraft had been built incredibly quickly because of the urgent need to raise Swift in the next few months. “All this is challenging and risky,” he said at the time. “There’re a lot of spacecraft that have had far longer development cycles with far more funding behind them that have failed for mundane reasons.” Katalyst raised a $12 million round in June to help support this mission, backed by investors Fortitude Ventures and Geodesic Capital. The company has also won funding from the U.S. military, which is interested in a dynamic vehicle that can service satellites or surveil rival spacecraft. This story has been updated to include comment from Katalyst.