New Delhi: Katalyst Space Technologies has announced that its robotic servicing mission to rescue NASA’s Swift Observatory will be launched on a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket, that is launched from a plane. As an air-launched rocket, Pegasus is extremely flexible in terms of launch location, timing and weather, with the ability to deliver critical payloads to orbit in challenging schedules. This is the first-collaboration of its kind, and can pave the way for more complex, time-critical orbital operations. The Swift satellite was launched in 2004 without a propulsion system, and is decaying in orbit. Katalyst is racing against time as the observatory has to be rescued by mid-2026 to continue operations.

Director of Space Launch for Northrop Grumman, Kurt Eberly says, “The versatilit

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