On August 19, 2026, NASA and Katalyst Space announced that the LINK spacecraft would not attempt to capture and boost NASA's Swift gamma-ray observatory due to an ongoing attitude control issue. Without a rescue, Swift is expected to reenter the atmosphere later in 2026.
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Due to an ongoing commercial spacecraft attitude control issue, NASA and Katalyst Space announced Wednesday the LINK spacecraft will not capture or boost an agency satellite to a higher altitude to extend its science mission as planned. However, LINK still will attempt to conduct rendezvous and proximity operations with NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory to […]
Sadness :( www.nasa.gov/news-release... Due to an ongoing commercial spacecraft attitude control issue, NASA and Katalyst Space announced Wednesday the LINK spacecraft will not capture or boost an
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Shame this mission to save Swift didnt work out. science.nasa.gov/blogs/swift/... NASA and Katalyst Space announced Wednesday the LINK spacecraft will not capture or boost an agency satellite to a higher altitude.
Bad news from NASA on the Swift boost mission 😢 NASA announced today that the mission to boost NASA’s Swift Observatory using the Katalyst Space LINK robotic servicing spacecraft is no longer feasible. The failures in LINK's reaction wheels on July 28, which are used for attitude control of the spacecraft, proved insurmountable. This rapidly designed/deployed mission carried risks and as the sayi
Without a rescue, NASA's Swift Observatory is expected to reenter the atmosphere later this year.
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Moving the Swift space observatory higher would have been a step forward in developing Active Debris Removal capabilities - but for now it hasn't worked. #SpaceJunk 🧪 🔭 NASA is abandoning its high-stakes plan to rescue the $500 million Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory from a fiery atmospheric reentry, the agency announced Wednesday. In a blog post…