Overview
- Katalyst Space Technologies announced on Sept. 25 that its robotic servicer Link reentered Earth's atmosphere, ending the roughly $30 million, NASA‑sponsored effort to capture and boost the Swift Observatory.
- Link never made contact with Swift after launching July 3 and was grounded by attitude‑control failures, including the loss of two reaction wheels and a valve‑induced rapid spin that disrupted communications, leaving it with insufficient propellant to attempt a capture.
- After the capture plan was abandoned in mid‑August, flight controllers used the remaining mission time to practice proximity operations and guided Link to within about 7–9 miles (12–15 km) of Swift and obtained photographs of the observatory.
- NASA has restarted Swift's three instruments and automated pointing to collect time‑critical science in the weeks ahead, but the telescope remains in a decaying orbit and is expected to reenter later this year with timing still uncertain, with some models projecting October to November.
- Although the boost attempt failed, engineers say the encounter delivered valuable rendezvous data and hands‑on experience that will inform designs, operational practices and policy for future commercial in‑space servicing; meanwhile, scientists face the imminent loss of a two‑decade rapid‑response observatory launched in 2004.