The robot NASA hired to lift an orbital telescope is tumbling out of control

NASA 雇佣用于提升轨道望远镜高度的机器人现已失控翻滚

A Katalyst Space robot that was launched to grab on to 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.

NASA 和 Katalyst Space 公司今日表示，一台旨在抓取空间望远镜并将其提升至更高轨道的 Katalyst Space 机器人目前正处于失控翻滚状态。这是该航天局首次雇佣私营公司来提升其观测站的轨道高度，旨在延长观测站的使用寿命，使其能够继续执行任务。

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.

尼尔·格雷尔斯雨燕天文台（Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory）于 2004 年发射，具备快速指向伽马射线暴等瞬时空间事件的能力。由于该航天器已受引力影响向地球坠落，需要将其推回更高轨道以继续执行任务。

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.

LINK 航天器于 7 月 3 日搭乘诺斯罗普·格鲁曼公司的飞马座火箭发射升空。在过去几周里，飞行控制人员一直在对该航天器进行调试，在它前往与“雨燕”汇合之前激活其各项系统。

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.

然而，该航天器在上周末出现了姿态控制问题并开始旋转，导致其天线偏离地球方向，造成通信困难。据 NASA 称，用于控制航天器姿态的三个反作用轮中有两个已经失效，且其中一个推进器系统也出现了故障。

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.”

飞行控制人员目前正尝试利用航天器上的另一组推进器来减缓旋转以恢复控制。他们在声明中表示：“我们已经开始进行这一系列点火操作，并观察到了预期的效果。”

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.”

该任务的首席工程师、Katalyst 公司的 Kieran Wilson 在任务前曾告诉记者，由于需要在未来几个月内紧急提升“雨燕”的高度，该航天器的建造速度极快。他当时表示：“这一切都充满挑战和风险。许多拥有更长开发周期和更多资金支持的航天器，最终却因琐碎的原因而失败。”

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.

Katalyst 在 6 月份筹集了 1200 万美元的资金以支持此项任务，投资方包括 Fortitude Ventures 和 Geodesic Capital。该公司还获得了美国军方的资助，军方对这种能够维修卫星或监视竞争对手航天器的动态飞行器表现出了浓厚兴趣。