Reaction wheel failures leave Swift rescue mission spinning in orbit

A commercial satellite designed to rescue NASA's aging Swift gamma-ray telescope from burning up in Earth's orbit has encountered troubles of its own. Ars Technica reports that Katalyst Space Technologies' Link satellite, launched nearly a month ago, experienced attitude control problems over the weekend. NASA announced on Tuesday that two of the spacecraft's three reaction wheels are no longer functioning, and its cold gas thruster system has degraded, causing intermittent communications with mission control.

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