Katalyst spacecraft reaches NASA Swift but fuel shortage ends rescue bid

Katalyst's Link spacecraft closed in on NASA's Swift Observatory and captured fresh images after the rescue mission was abandoned. The fuel-limited flyby still gave NASA and the company valuable lessons for future satellite servicing.Image used for representational purposes onlyA private spacecraft sent to try to save NASA’s Swift Observatory managed to get close to the falling telescope and take pictures more than a week after the rescue mission was abandoned. But the three-armed robotic spacecraft had to turn away because it was running low on fuel, Katalyst Space Technologies said.Katalyst’s Link spacecraft came within 15 kilometres of Swift last weekend and used its own sensors to gather data on the ageing telescope for NASA. The rescue effort had already been called off in August because of problems with Link in orbit, but the company carried out the close approach as practice for future satellite servicing missions.Link went into an uncontrollable spin soon after launching in July. Flight controllers managed to reduce the tumble and stabilise the spacecraft, but that used up precious fuel. In the end, there was not enough fuel left to push Swift into a higher orbit that could have extended its life and allowed it to continue observing the cosmos.“We got so close, but so far,” Katalyst chief executive Ghonhee Lee told The Associated Press this week. Lee said the problems were caused by the rush to get Link into space. The mission was put together in just nine months, and engineers often had to use whatever was available instead of waiting for preferred parts, he said. NASA paid the company USD 30 million for the attempt, which both sides viewed as an experiment even though no one wanted a wreck that would create clouds of space debris. After Sunday’s launch of the Roman Space Telescope, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said, “Unfortunately, it wasn’t the outcome that we were expecting. But that’s exactly the type of missions that we should be flying at NASA. We will learn from that.” He said it made sense to extend the life of a valuable spacecraft if salvaging it cost less than replacing it, and noted that the Roman telescope was designed to be refuelled even though it is heading to an observation point 1 million miles away.According to Lee, Link is unlikely to have enough fuel left for another close approach to Swift. But it can continue exercising its one-metre arms and provide useful data before re-entering the atmosphere and burning up sometime in the next month. Launched in 2004, Swift still has a little time left in orbit, depending on solar activity. Recent intense solar storms have brought the telescope down much sooner than expected. NASA expects Swift to fall through the atmosphere sometime between October and the end of the year. The agency resumed observations with the telescope last week after stopping them earlier this year to save power. Like Swift, the Hubble Space Telescope’s orbit has also been shortened by solar activity, and Katalyst is developing a next-generation spacecraft that could push the 36-year-old Hubble into a longer-lasting orbit. “Hubble does still have a few years of life yet, right? So the good news is this isn’t imminent,” Lee said.Summing up the wider effort, Lee said servicing old telescopes and other satellites used to be “a very, very niche concept” and added, “and we believe it’s going to become more and more commonplace.” The Swift mission did not achieve its main goal, but it still provided Katalyst and NASA with data for future rescue and servicing attempts.With PTI Inputs- EndsPublished By: India Today Web Desk Published On: Sep 4, 2026 20:40 IST