NASA gives up on trying to rescue the Swift telescope

NASA and Katalyst Space have abandoned their plan to rescue the Swift Observatory satellite, which was set to fall into Earth's atmosphere. The Link spacecraft, built by Katalyst Space, was launched in July to dock with and boost Swift to a higher orbit, but an ongoing attitude control issue with Link has made the rescue mission impossible.

The problem with Link began shortly after its launch, when it entered a spin and two of its three reaction wheels used to control its orientation became inoperable. Although engineers regained control using the spacecraft's electric thrusters and transmitted a software update, the issue persisted and made the planned reboost of Swift unsafe.

Despite the setback, NASA and Katalyst Space have described the mission as worth attempting, with NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman stating that the agency should be willing to take smart risks when the potential return is worth it. The Swift Observatory is now expected to plunge through the atmosphere after more than 20 years of tracking celestial events, with its demise not expected before October.

Brief written by urgent.news from The Verge, The Register, The Register Science, New Scientist, Phys.org — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.