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| Image credit: NASA |
Launch of Swift Boost Mission
Northrop Grumman's Stargazer plane took off from Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands at 0739 UTC, or 1939 local time. Stargazer air-launched a Pegasus XL rocket over the Pacific Ocean near Kiribati at 0836 UTC. This was carrying NASA's Swift Boost mission, consisting of a robotic servicing spacecraft named LINK which was developed by Katalyst Space. The mission will attempt to reboost NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory to a higher altitude before it falls into the atmosphere, in order to extend its mission duration. The servicing mission has been planned and executed in less than a year for a relatively low budget, and if successful it will mark the first time a NASA spacecraft has been serviced by a private company. LINK will rendezvous with Swift in a few weeks. This was the 46th flight of Pegasus and its first since 2021. [Source: NASA]
BULL Drag Sail Demonstration
Japanese company BULL have demonstrated a pair of satellites with unfolding drag sails. These drag sails could be used to more quickly de-orbit low-flying satellites when they go out of service. The two satellites, named HORN-R and HORN-L, descended faster than a control at the same altitude, showing that the drag sails work as intended. [Source: BULL]
There was no International Space Station blog post today due to the US Independence Day federal holiday.
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