Spacecraft with three robotic arms launched into space to stop orbiting telescope from crashing

A spacecraft with three robotic arms was launched into space on Friday, with a mission to save a telescope that's at risk of falling back to earth due to its orbit decaying faster than was expected. 

The rocket carrying the Northrop Grumman Katalyst Space Technologies’ Link spacecraft was launched from a jet on Friday under a $30 million contract that included the cost of the rocket, CBS News reported. 

Using its small robotic arms, the spacecraft will lock onto the $250 million Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory and tug it into a safer altitude. 

The telescope is currently orbiting 224 miles above the Earth, and the Link spacecraft aims to raise that to 370 miles. The telescope was launched in 2024, and it ended up sinking faster than expected due to recent solar storms.

It was designed to seek out high-energy radiation from gamma ray bursts, the most powerful explosions since the Big Bang that is believed to have given birth to the universe 14 billion years ago.