Swift Observatory

Katalyst's Link satellite fails to rescue NASA's aging Swift Observatory

Katalyst Space Technologies built and launched a satellite called Link under a $30 million, nine-month NASA contract to boost the Swift Observatory into a higher orbit before it decayed. Link launched July 3 but suffered a malfunction weeks later that sent it spinning out of control, and NASA confirmed in August the rescue attempt was off. Swift, launched in 2004, lacks its own propulsion and remains at the mercy of atmospheric drag.

arstechnica.com · 2026-10-01

NASA's Katalyst Space rescue mission for Swift satellite fails, observatory to deorbit

NASA and Katalyst Space attempted to use a robotic probe called LINK to grab the aging Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory and push it back into a stable orbit, but the probe suffered altitude-control failures shortly after its July launch, forcing cancellation of the mission. Swift, launched in 2004, is now expected to reenter Earth's atmosphere and burn up as soon as later this year, sooner than the 2030 estimate scientists once projected.

wired.com · 2026-09-10