NASA's Attempt To Save Its Aging Swift Telescope Has Failed

NASA has spent months trying to rescue one of its most important space telescopes from an early return to Earth, going so far as to employ the services of Katalyst Space Technologies. Katalyst built a robotic spacecraft that was designed to find the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, grab it, and push it into a higher orbit.

Unfortunately, those efforts proved ineffective. Katalys’s three-armed Link spacecraft developed significant issues shortly after reaching orbit, forcing NASA to abandon the rescue mission. Eventually, Link managed to approach the telescope and photograph it, but the robotic spacecraft itself reentered Earth's atmosphere on September 25, bringing the $30 million rescue effort to an end. NASA officials now expect Swift to follow suit sometime in early November.

Swift Has Been Watching The Universe For More Than 20 Years

NASA’s Swift Observatory has been in orbit since 2004, when NASA launched it to study some of the universe’s most rapidly changing events. The telescope is particularly known for detecting gamma-ray bursts, which are powerful explosions that occur when stars die or compact objects collide. Swift is designed to quickly detect and turn its instruments toward these events, making it possible for scientists to study them as they unfold.

Because of its responsive nature, NASA has often described Swift as a “cosmic first responder.” Swift spent more than 20 years detecting a sudden event and alerting other telescopes, so follow-up observations could be made from Earth.

The NASA Swift Observatory far exceeded all expectations that scientists had for it. When it launched in 2004, the telescope was expected to spend two years in space. Now, more than two decades later, its time is coming to an end.

The Sun Was Pulling Swift Down

It’s worth noting that Swift didn’t suddenly stop working. Instead, its orbit around Earth has been gradually deteriorating for some time. When a spacecraft in Earth’s lower orbit encounters even a small amount of atmospheric drag, satellites without their own means of maintaining altitude slowly descend. Swift's orbit had been declining for years, but increased solar activity made the problem much more serious.

When the Sun becomes more active, Earth’s upper atmosphere expands. That expansion increases the amount of drag that satellites in the lower orbit face. NASA officials said that the increased drag led to Swift’s orbit decaying faster than anticipated.

NASA Turned To A Private Company For A Rescue

A year ago, NASA granted Katalyst Space Technologies a $30 million contract to try something that had never been done before. Katalyst agreed to design, build, and launch a robotic servicing spacecraft called Link. The vehicle would rendezvous with Swift, use its robotic arms to capture the observatory, and then raise Swift into a higher orbit.

NASA provided Katalyst with an incredibly short timeline. The mission had less than a year to get from the initial contract signing to launch because of how quickly Swift’s orbit was declining.

The mission was also ambitious because Swift was never intended to be serviced while in orbit. Link would have to approach a spacecraft that was never built with a robotic rescue vehicle in mind and somehow establish a secure connection.

Link Ran Into Trouble Almost Immediately

While the contract was signed in September 2025, Link didn’t go into space until July 3, 2026, when it launched aboard a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket from Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Unfortunately, the rescue craft quickly ran into problems with its ability to control its orientation.

Two of Link's three reaction wheels became inoperable, and the spacecraft also experienced problems with its cold-gas thruster system. The combination caused Link to begin spinning and resulted in intermittent communications with its operators.

By August 19, 2026, the rescue mission had been called off because NASA and Katalyst concluded that Link could not safely capture and elevate Swift.

Swift's Mission Is Almost Over

While the Katalyst Link spacecraft was able to get close enough to Swift to take some pictures, the rescue mission has been abandoned. Now, Swift’s remaining time in space is being measured in months instead of years. While there is not an exact date set for the Swift observatory reentry, NASA expects it to happen in early November.

While Swift will soon disappear into the Earth’s atmosphere, the data that it collected remains valuable, and it will go down as one of NASA’s most successful missions.

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