Mission to Rescue a Space Telescope

On July 3, 2026, a Northrop Grumman Pegasus rocket lifted off from the Marshall Islands in the Pacific, dropping from the belly of a modified airplane. This marked the beginning of a mission involving the Link spacecraft, developed by Katalyst. Link is meant to help rescue NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observator. Building a spacecraft usually takes a few years, but Katalyst built the robot in about one year.

NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observator was first launched in 2004 and has cost NASA around $500 million. Now, the telescope is 21 years old and is slowly falling toward Earth. If it drops below 186 miles for its orbit, the planet’s atmosphere will pull on it too hard, and the satellite will burn up as it falls toward Earth. Over the last two years, Swift has dropped nearly 120 miles.

Carrying the 57-foot Pegasus XL rocket beneath it, the plane reached a height of about 40,000 feet, then the rocket blasted off in mid-air. About 13 minutes later, the Link spacecraft was successfully in orbit above Earth.

To prevent the destruction of the falling telescope, NASA awarded a $30 million contract to Katalyst Space Technologies to build a Link. Link is roughly the size of a refrigerator, and is 937 pounds. It has three robotic arms and three thrusters.

The first step of the process is to track down the telescope. Then, Link will then use three robotic arms to grapple and push the aging telescope to a higher orbit, aiming to extend its operational life by up to 10 years.