Summary
NASA’s attempt to raise the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory’s orbit ended after the LINK spacecraft developed communications and orientation-control problems. NASA and Katalyst Space scaled back the mission, while Swift’s team used observation planning to slow its descent for several months.
NASA’s attempt to raise the orbit of the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory ended without a boost after the LINK servicing spacecraft developed intermittent communications losses and problems with its orientation control. NASA and contractor Katalyst Space abandoned the planned capture and lift, then shifted LINK toward technology demonstrations. The observatory’s team also changed its pointing strategy to slow its orbital descent while the boost effort was being prepared.
Why Swift needed an orbit boost
Swift launched in November 2004 to study gamma-ray bursts, and has also observed other cosmic explosions, black holes, comets and asteroids. Like other spacecraft in low Earth orbit, it gradually loses altitude as it encounters drag from Earth’s atmosphere. NASA said a period of increased solar activity magnified that effect.
NASA’s predictions put Swift’s descent to an altitude of around 185 miles (300 kilometres)—a point at which a boost attempt would become increasingly difficult—in fall 2026. With the observatory expected to re-enter the atmosphere by the end of the year without intervention, NASA had only a few months to seek proposals and fund early design studies. In September 2025, it contracted Katalyst to design, build, test and launch a servicing spacecraft on a compressed schedule.
Swift’s flight controllers worked to extend the time available. Beginning in December 2025, they replaced around 25% of the observatory’s planned science targets with directions intended to minimise drag. By February, they had switched fully to this approach. Swift did not carry out pointed science observations from mid-February to late August, and the altered pointing helped keep it above the critical altitude for several months.
That strategy involved trade-offs. Pointing too close to Earth, the Moon or the Sun could expose instruments to damaging brightness, while the most streamlined orientation risked directing the telescopes too close to the atmosphere. The team balanced those constraints while trying to preserve altitude.
LINK’s revised mission and the lessons
LINK launched from Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands in July 2026 aboard a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket. After initial spacecraft checkouts, its communications and orientation-control problems led NASA and Katalyst to scale back the mission. LINK would no longer try to grapple and lift Swift. Instead, the revised plan called for technology demonstrations, including exercising its xenon-powered propulsion system and three robotic arms, designed to offer different options for safely grappling the observatory.
NASA formally concluded its involvement in LINK’s mission on September 3. LINK re-entered Earth’s atmosphere on September 25. NASA’s account presents the effort as a source of experience for future in-space servicing, even though the primary goal of raising Swift’s orbit was not achieved.
The work also required a different pace of mission management. NASA’s Swift team and Katalyst developed milestones and approval processes intended to support rapid decisions while keeping the project moving toward launch. NASA’s Engineering and Safety Center provided input during integration and testing. The experience, alongside Swift’s drag-reduction operations, offers practical lessons for planning future spacecraft interventions under tight orbital deadlines.