NASA launches Swift telescope rescue mission from Marshall Islands

NASA has hired Katalyst Space Technologies to rescue the Swift space telescope, which has dropped to an altitude of about 360 km due to increased solar‑driven atmospheric drag. The $30 million mission, called Swift Boost, uses a three‑armed spacecraft named Link that was launched on a Northrop Grumman Pegasus rocket dropped from a modified aircraft over the Marshall Islands. After a series of weather‑related delays, the vehicle is now on a month‑long trajectory to capture Swift, lift it roughly 240 km higher to a more stable orbit, and allow the telescope to resume observations by September. The rescue is the first effort to extend the operational life of a scientific satellite already in orbit, and its success could pave the way for similar interventions on other aging observatories such as the Hubble Space Telescope.

The mission was built in just nine months, a rapid schedule imposed by the telescope’s accelerating decay. Swift, launched in 2004, monitors gamma‑ray bursts and other short‑duration cosmic events; without rescue it is expected to burn up in Earth’s atmosphere by October 2026. NASA paused the telescope’s scientific program to conserve fuel while the rescue proceeds.