Flagstaff-based company wins $30M contract for NASA space rescue mission

A Flagstaff-based space company has won a $30 million contract to raise the orbit of a space-based NASA observatory next year before it can drop uncontrolled back into Earth’s atmosphere.

NASA officials say they are in a race against time as the agency’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory and its three-telescope system studying gamma rays from space needs a rescue.

The plan is "called rendezvous proximity operations and docking." Next year, Katalyst Space Technologies will launch a ship into outer space, approach NASA’s observatory; then the plan anticipates both spacecraft will zero out their velocities and dock perfectly for the next step.

"It’s like trying to hook up a trailer hitch while you’re on the highway going 60 miles an hour, right? And you have to have extreme precision. It’s a very difficult problem," said Katalyst CEO Ghonhee Lee.

But the payoff is a big one for NASA. Swift’s Earth orbit is decaying. Katalyst’s mission will reboost its orbit and keep it sustained for more years of research.

Lee says it’s rare to turn a program in just months and says $30 million is a fraction of what this rescue could cost

"If we are successful, we’re saying you no longer have to spend hundreds of millions of dollars and years to develop these robotic spacecraft. You can actually launch these for much more economical sense and on timelines that are very relevant."

NASA used its small business program to move quickly for Swift’s rescue.

If the mission succeeds, NASA says this would be the first time a commercial robotic spacecraft captures a government satellite that is "uncrewed," or not originally designed to be serviced in space.

“Given how quickly Swift’s orbit is decaying, we are in a race against the clock, but by leveraging commercial technologies that are already in development, we are meeting this challenge head-on,” said Shawn Domagal-Goldman, acting director, Astrophysics Division, NASA Headquarters in a press release.

“This is a forward-leaning, risk-tolerant approach for NASA. But attempting an orbit boost is both more affordable than replacing Swift’s capabilities with a new mission, and beneficial to the nation — expanding the use of satellite servicing to a new and broader class of spacecraft.”

NASA said Katalyst is a participant in NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program, managed by the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate. The agency says that allowed NASA to pursue an orbit boost for Swift on a shorter development timeline.