Link is only the second space mission developed by Katalyst following a technology demonstration launched in 2024 by Atomos Space, a company Katalyst acquired last year.
“When we started the program, I think everyone recognized that the biggest risk would be that we wouldn’t be ready to launch on time, that Swift would fall faster than we could get up. We’ve been able to eliminate that risk over the last few months by building, testing and preparing to operate a spacecraft,” Wilson said. “So I think that has eliminated most of the overall concern. Now, there is a lot of residual risk in the program. We still have to get the spacecraft into orbit and operate it there successfully, and as we’ve all seen before, that’s a very difficult thing to do.”
The Link spacecraft was integrated with Northrop Grumman’s Pegasus XL rocket.
Credit: NASA/Ron Beard
The Link spacecraft was integrated with Northrop Grumman’s Pegasus XL rocket.
Credit: NASA/Ron Beard
It also helped that Northrop Grumman had all of the Pegasus XL rocket parts in storage. The latest two Pegasus rockets were originally ordered by Stratolaunch, a company originally owned by the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. Stratolaunch abandoned the rockets after Allen’s death in 2018 and Northrop was free to sell them to other customers. It sold one to Space Force in 2021 and the other to Katalyst last year.
Whatever happens after Link launches, NASA and its partners believe they have written a new model for how to conduct a responsive space mission.
“Some would call it the first of its kind, a robotic spacecraft that can capture an unprepared satellite,” said Robert Lamontagne, vice president of strategic partnerships at Katalyst. “It’s first and foremost a commercial mission. It’s about achieving an operational objective in the real world. It’s not just a demonstration, and we’re doing it as a service… This is really a model for commercial and government partnerships.”
“Programmatically, I consider this already a success, simply because we’re going to try it,” Domagal-Goldman said.
