NASA launched an emergency mission to stop the Swift Observatory from crashing to Earth

NASA 发起紧急任务，阻止雨燕天文台坠入地球

The Swift Observatory was launched in 2004, but recent solar storms have pushed its orbit lower, and it’s in danger of burning up in Earth’s atmosphere as soon as this year. To try and stave off its demise, NASA has enlisted Katalyst Space Technologies. The company’s Link spacecraft launched Friday with the goal of intercepting Swift, which has no propulsion system, and boosting its orbit back to its original position. Right now, Swift is circling at an altitude of 224 miles, and Link is aiming to raise that by about 150 miles.

雨燕天文台（Swift Observatory）于 2004 年发射升空，但近期的太阳风暴导致其轨道降低，最早可能在今年就会因坠入地球大气层而烧毁。为了挽救这一局面，NASA 聘请了 Katalyst Space Technologies 公司。该公司的“Link”航天器已于周五发射，目标是拦截没有推进系统的雨燕天文台，并将其轨道提升回原始位置。目前，雨燕天文台正以 224 英里的高度绕地飞行，而 Link 的目标是将这一高度提升约 150 英里。

Using a three-armed spacecraft to lift a satellite 150 miles higher into orbit is challenging enough, but the speed with which Katalyst pulled the mission together makes it even more impressive. NASA required the company to rush the job because Swift would be too low to save by October. $30 million and nine months later, help is on the way for the $500 million Swift.

利用一个三臂航天器将卫星提升到高出 150 英里的轨道上本身就极具挑战性，而 Katalyst 公司完成任务的速度更令人印象深刻。NASA 要求该公司紧急执行此项任务，因为到 10 月份时，雨燕天文台的高度将低到无法挽救。在耗资 3000 万美元并历时九个月后，价值 5 亿美元的雨燕天文台终于迎来了救援。

The Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory primarily studies gamma-ray bursts, which have been crucial to understanding the early days of the universe.

尼尔·盖瑞尔斯雨燕天文台（Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory）主要研究伽马射线暴，这对理解宇宙早期历史至关重要。