NASA 'Not Giving Up' on Private Mission to Rescue Swift Telescope as LINK Spacecraft Spins Out of Control

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said Thursday, July 30, that "we are not giving up yet" regarding the private LINK spacecraft mission to rescue NASA's aging Swift Observatory, Live Science reported. The Katalyst Space-built LINK spacecraft, which launched July 3, is spinning out of control due to electrical power issues affecting its reaction control system wheels — engineers have reduced its rotation from nine to four degrees per second, but the vehicle has not been stabilized.

A Race Against Orbit Decay

The rendezvous with Swift has been delayed to late August, and NASA officials say Swift — which has been in orbit since 2004 — will fall too far for rescue by autumn unless the mission succeeds. Swift has outlived its planned lifetime several times over and continues to produce science on gamma-ray bursts and transient events, making it a priority target for the emerging in-orbit servicing industry.

"We are not giving up yet," Isaacman said of the mission, which would mark one of the first commercial rescues of a functioning government science satellite.

The Stakes for In-Orbit Servicing

The mission is a test case for the commercial servicing sector: if a private vehicle can dock with and reboost a NASA observatory, it would validate a business model in which operators buy orbital rescue and refueling services instead of launching replacement satellites. Engineers are continuing to work the power and wheel-control issues, and the mission team said a successful rendezvous in late August remains possible if the vehicle's electrical problems can be contained.