NASA-гийн захиалгаар сансрын дуран авайг өндөр тойрог замд шилжүүлэх зорилготой байсан Katalyst Space компанийн LINK хөлөг техникийн саатлын улмаас хяналтаа алдан эргэлдэж байна.
2004 онд хөөргөсөн Neil Gehrels Swift ажиглалтын төвийн ашиглалтын хугацааг сунгах зорилгоор NASA анх удаа хувийн хэвшлийн компанитай хамтран ажиллаж байна. Долдугаар сарын 3-нд Northrop Grumman Pegasus пуужингаар хөөргөсөн LINK хөлөг нь Swift-тэй холбогдохоор бэлтгэл ажлаа хийж байсан юм. Гэвч амралтын өдрүүдэд хөлгийн чиглэл тогтоогч гурван реакцийн дугуйны хоёр нь ажиллагаагүй болж, түлшний системд доголдол гарснаар холбоо тогтооход хүндрэл үүсээд байна.
Katalyst Space-ийн инженерүүд хөлгийн хэвийн үйл ажиллагааг сэргээхээр ажиллаж байгаа бөгөөд нөөц түлшний системээ ашиглан хөлгийн эргэлтийг удаашруулах оролдлого хийж эхэлжээ. Тус компанийн ерөнхий инженер Киран Уилсон төсөл эхлэхээс өмнө энэхүү ажиллагаа нь маш богино хугацаанд хэрэгжсэн, өндөр эрсдэлтэй гэдгийг онцолж байв.
Katalyst Space нь өнгөрсөн зургаадугаар сард Fortitude Ventures болон Geodesic Capital зэрэг хөрөнгө оруулагчдаас 12 сая ам.долларын санхүүжилт татсан байна. Мөн хиймэл дагуулд үйлчилгээ үзүүлэх болон бусад сансрын хөлгийг тандах чадамжтай технологи сонирхож буй АНУ-ын цэргийн салбараас тус компани санхүүжилт авчээ.
Дэлгэрэнгүйг эх сурвалжаас харах
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A Katalyst Space robot launched to grab onto a space telescope and raise it to a higher orbit is now tumbling out of control, NASA and the company said today.
The mission is the first time the space agency has hired a private company to lift one of its observatories 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 onboard 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, making communications difficult as its antenna flips away from the planet. According to NASA, two of the three reaction wheels that control the spacecraft’s alignment have failed, and there are problems with one of the spacecraft’s thruster systems.
Flight controllers are working to recover the spacecraft using another set of thrusters on the spacecraft to slow the spin, and said in a statement that “we have already begun this series of burns and are seeing the intended effect.”
Katalyst’s Kieran Wilson, the chief engineer 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 US military, which is interested in dynamic vehicle that can service satellites or surveil rival spacecraft.
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