NASA and Katalyst Space have abandoned the rescue mission for the Swift Observatory due to attitude control issues, leading to the satellite's expected re-entry into Earth's atmosphere later this year.
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<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Plans to rescue NASA's Swift Observatory satellite from falling into Earth's atmosphere are seemingly dead in the water. The agency and Katalyst Space <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-updates-next-steps-for-commercial-swift-boost-mission/">announced yesterday</a> that the Link spacecraft will no longer capture or boost the Swift telescope to a higher altitude due to an ongoing "attitude control issue," but will instead conduct rendezvous and proximity operations to collect data for future space exploration.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">"We knew this was a high-risk, high-reward mission - a first-of-its kind attempt, developed on an unprecedented timeline driven by the Sun's activity," said NASA astrophysics director Shawn Domagal-Goldman. "We were all hoping f …</p>
<p><a href="https://www.theverge.com/science/982661/nasa-katalyst-swift-rescue-mission-failure-update">Read the full story at The Verge.</a></p>
# NASA gives up on trying to rescue the Swift telescope
Source: [https://www.theverge.com/science/982661/nasa-katalyst-swift-rescue-mission-failure-update](https://www.theverge.com/science/982661/nasa-katalyst-swift-rescue-mission-failure-update)
[](https://www.theverge.com/authors/jess-weatherbed)
Jess Weatherbed
is a news writer focused on creative industries, computing, and internet culture\. Jess started her career at TechRadar, covering news and hardware reviews\.
Plans to rescue NASA’s Swift Observatory satellite from falling into Earth’s atmosphere are seemingly dead in the water\. The agency and Katalyst Space[announced yesterday](https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-updates-next-steps-for-commercial-swift-boost-mission/)that the Link spacecraft will no longer capture or boost the Swift telescope to a higher altitude due to an ongoing “attitude control issue,” but will instead conduct rendezvous and proximity operations to collect data for future space exploration\.
“We knew this was a high\-risk, high\-reward mission – a first\-of\-its kind attempt, developed on an unprecedented timeline driven by the Sun’s activity,” said NASA astrophysics director Shawn Domagal\-Goldman\. “We were all hoping for more science from Swift\. But we knew the takeaways from this mission would be worthwhile either way, and we have gained so much through the series of accomplishments up to this point\.”
NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory was launched in 2004 to study gamma\-ray bursts\. While only planned for a two year mission, it later came to be used as a general\-purpose multi\-wavelength observatory, but a recent increase in solar activity has pushed its orbit lower\.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in the mission update that this “is not the outcome we were working toward, but it does not change why this mission was worth attempting\.” Katalyst was awarded[a $30 million contract](https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-awards-company-to-attempt-swift-spacecraft-orbit-boost/#:~:text=NASA%20has%20awarded%20Katalyst%20%2430,which%20Swift%E2%80%99s%20orbit%20is%20decaying)in September last year to carry out plans to boost the Swift telescope back into a higher orbit, which is a lot of money to spend on an ultimately fruitless rescue mission\.
Katalyst launched the[Link spacecraft on July 3rd](https://www.theverge.com/science/961459/nasa-emergency-save-swift-observatory-katalyst-space-technologies), but started[experiencing its own issues](https://www.theverge.com/science/972366/the-swift-telescope-rescue-mission-also-needs-rescuing)at the end of July\. Without additional intervention, NASA now expects Swift to re\-enter and burn up in Earth’s atmosphere later this year\.
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- Jess Weatherbed
NASA and Katalyst Space Technologies have abandoned a robotic mission to rescue the Swift gamma-ray observatory due to technical issues with the rescue satellite Link, which experienced attitude control problems.
NASA has launched an emergency mission with Katalyst Space Technologies to raise the orbit of the Swift Observatory, which is in danger of burning up in Earth's atmosphere due to recent solar storms.
NASA and Katalyst Space Technologies are attempting an unprecedented rapid satellite rescue mission to boost the aging Swift observatory's orbit, preventing its loss due to atmospheric drag. The mission was conceived and developed in under a year with a $30 million contract.
Katalyst Space Technologies launched its Link satellite on a Pegasus XL rocket to rescue NASA's Swift observatory from falling out of orbit, marking the first mission of its kind.
Engineers at Katalyst Space Technologies are working to stabilize their Link satellite after it spun out of control during its mission to rescue NASA's Swift gamma-ray observatory, using the spacecraft's plasma engines to regain attitude control.