NASA races to save Swift telescope with daring rescue mission

Key Points:

• NASA is launching a $30-million mission this week to save the aging Swift Observatory, which is rapidly losing altitude due to intense solar activity, by boosting it to a higher orbit using a robotic spacecraft built by startup Katalyst Space Technologies.
• The autonomous spacecraft, named Link, will rendezvous with Swift over about a month and then raise its orbit from 224 miles to 373 miles to prevent the telescope from falling back to Earth, with the operation expected to complete by September.
• This mission marks the first American robotic satellite servicing effort, following a similar Chinese mission four years ago, and aims to demonstrate a new capability for extending the life of valuable space observatories.
• NASA may apply this technology to the Hubble Space Telescope, which is also losing altitude, with plans to possibly boost it in 2028 using next-generation robotic servicing developed by Katalyst.
• Saving Swift is critical as it continues to play a unique role in rapidly detecting cosmic explosions and transient events, and NASA currently lacks the budget to replace the telescope if it is lost.