NASA Ends Swift Rescue Mission After 2 LINK Reaction Wheels Fail
Updated
Updated · ExtremeTech · Aug 22
NASA Ends Swift Rescue Mission After 2 LINK Reaction Wheels Fail
3 articles · Updated · ExtremeTech · Aug 22
Summary
NASA said it has ended the effort to save the Swift Observatory from atmospheric reentry after remote attempts to recover Katalyst's LINK spacecraft failed.
Two of LINK's three reaction wheels broke, leaving the spacecraft unable to safely maneuver into position even though its boost hardware for Swift remained usable.
Swift, launched in 2004, had been expected to stay aloft longer, but stronger solar activity in late 2024 and early 2025 expanded the upper atmosphere and accelerated orbital decay.
NASA will still carry out a few early mission steps to gather data for future servicing attempts, turning a failed rescue into a test case for later public-private satellite recovery missions.
With Swift doomed to burn up, will this $30 million failure permanently derail NASA's plans to save the iconic Hubble Space Telescope?
What hidden engineering flaws caused the rescue spacecraft to spin out of control just weeks before reaching the dying observatory?
Could abandoning legacy satellites to burn in the atmosphere actually be safer than risking catastrophic collisions during experimental commercial rescues?