Swift was launched in 2004 and was designed to detect gamma-ray bursts, the most powerful explosions in the universe. In its 20-plus years in space, it has helped scientists make thousands of important discoveries.
Katalyst's spacecraft, called LINK, will launch on June 27 from an island in the Pacific Ocean called Kwajalein Atoll. It will fly to Swift on its own and push it into a higher, safer orbit. The mission costs $30 million and is paid for by NASA.
NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, which has been operating in low Earth orbit since its launch in November 2004, is gradually losing altitude due to atmospheric drag. Without intervention, scientists predict it will re-enter Earth's atmosphere by the early 2030s. To prevent the loss of a still-productive science asset, NASA awarded a $30 million contract to Katalyst Space Technologies to perform an on-orbit rescue.
Swift's science contribution over two decades has been enormous. Its onboard instruments have detected and studied more than 1,400 gamma-ray bursts, helping scientists understand neutron star mergers and other extreme astrophysical events. The observatory has outlasted its original three-year mission by nearly two decades and remains scientifically active.
Katalyst's LINK spacecraft will launch aboard a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket from Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean on June 27. After a 72-hour phasing sequence, LINK will autonomously dock with Swift and fire its thrusters to boost the observatory by approximately 15 kilometers into a more stable orbit, extending its useful scientific life by at least a decade.
The Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, launched aboard a Delta 7320-10C in November 2004 with a nominal three-year mission, has by any measure outperformed its design specification across more than two decades of continuous operation. However, accelerating orbital decay -- driven by increased atmospheric drag during the current solar maximum, which inflates the thermosphere and heightens resistance even at 600-kilometer altitudes -- has advanced predicted atmospheric re-entry from earlier estimates toward a potential 2032 window according to NASA astrodynamics modeling released in April 2026.
Swift's three science instruments -- the Burst Alert Telescope, X-ray Telescope, and UV/Optical Telescope -- have collectively detected and localized more than 1,400 gamma-ray bursts and proven decisive in characterizing the kilonova signature of GW170817, the 2017 neutron star merger that marked the dawn of multimessenger astronomy. That observation, jointly credited to LIGO, Virgo, and Swift, contributed to the Nobel Prize in Physics awarded the same year and remains a landmark in the field.
Katalyst Space Technologies' LINK servicing vehicle represents the first attempt to execute autonomous rendezvous and proximity operations with a US government science satellite using a fully commercial spacecraft. The $30 million task order, placed under NASA's Commercial LEO Destinations adjacent servicing framework, calls for LINK to launch on a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL from Kwajalein Atoll on June 27, execute a 72-hour phasing sequence to approach Swift, perform contact docking without a dedicated capture port, and fire its thrusters to boost Swift by approximately 15 kilometers into a 600-kilometer circular orbit stable enough to sustain operations well into the 2040s.
Katalyst Space Technologies is scheduled to launch its LINK spacecraft on June 27, tasked with autonomously docking with NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory and boosting it to a stable orbit. Swift, launched in 2004 to detect gamma-ray bursts, has been slowly losing altitude and faces atmospheric re-entry by the early 2030s without intervention. The $30 million contract represents the first time NASA has commissioned a commercial vehicle to autonomously service a US government science satellite in orbit.

A space telescope called Swift is slowly falling. A company will send a robot spacecraft to save it. This is the first time something like this has been tried.
Swift was sent into space in 2004. It looks at big explosions in space called gamma-ray bursts. Scientists have learned a lot from Swift.
The rescue spacecraft is called LINK. It will launch on June 27. It will push Swift higher so it does not fall to Earth.
1What is the name of the space telescope that needs to be rescued?
2What is the rescue spacecraft called?
3When will the rescue mission launch?
4What does Swift study in space?
5What year was Swift sent into space?
6The space telescope is called Swift.
7The rescue spacecraft is called SAVE.
8Swift was launched in 2004.
9LINK will launch in August.
10This type of commercial satellite rescue has been done many times before.
11The space telescope that needs saving is called ___.
12The rescue spacecraft is called ___.
13LINK will launch on June ___.