Business · Ars Technica
WALLOPS ISLAND, Virginia—10 months ago, NASA asked three companies if they could do something nobody had done
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Could they build and launch a satellite to save a $500 million astronomy mission at risk of crashing back to Earth?
Key facts
- Northrop Grumman’s L-1011 carrier jet will transport the 58-foot-long (18-meter) Pegasus rocket with the Link servicing satellite to a location over the remote equatorial Pacific Ocean near Kwajalein
- After 45 missions since 1990, this is the final Pegasus rocket scheduled to fly
- Then the satellite shipped to NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia for integration with its ride to space: Northrop Grumman’s Pegasus XL rocket
- Link is the second space mission developed by Katalyst after a technology demonstration launched in 2024 by Atomos Space, a company Katalyst acquired last year
Summary
WALLOPS ISLAND, Virginia perhaps around October. “To be honest, no one thought it was going to be possible. Katalyst’s Link servicing spacecraft is now complete and ready for launch, a prospect that wasn’t a given a few months ago, when Ars visited the company’s factory in Colorado. It all came together in time. The Pegasus XL is an air-launched vehicle.