Mission to save NASA’s aging Swift space telescope called off after rescue spacecraft loses control

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Key points

• Introduced in 2004, Swift's science instruments were turned off earlier this year to slow its descent.
• NASA and Katalyst Space Technologies confirmed the news more than a month after the startup's Link spacecraft rocketed away to the telescope's rescue.
• The mission to save NASA's sinking Swift Observatory was called off Wednesday, dooming the telescope to a fiery reentry afterwards this year.
• Katalyst remarked Link will not attempt to capture Swift and boost it to a higher orbit as of challenges with controlling the spacecraft.

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In practice, the mission to save NASA's sinking Swift Observatory was called off Wednesday, dooming the telescope to a fiery reentry afterwards this year.

Katalyst remarked Link will not attempt to capture Swift and boost it to a higher orbit as of challenges with controlling the spacecraft. NASA remarked this means the telescope will plunge through the atmosphere after more than 20 years of tracking some of the biggest explosions in the universe like gamma ray bursts and exploding stars. Its demise is not projected before October.

NASA paid $30 million to Katalyst in an attempt to raise the telescope to a safer, longer-lasting orbit. Intense solar activity caused it to lose altitude faster than projected. The rescue spacecraft went into an uncontrollable spin a few weeks after its liftoff in early July. While flight controllers managed to slow Link's tumble, problems continued to plague its pointing and positioning in orbit.

"This is not the outcome we were working toward, but it does not change why this mission was worth attempting, " NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman remarked in an official note.

As a consolation prize, Katalyst will continue to operate Link in proximity with the telescope to demonstrate capabilities for future rescue operations.

Katalyst CEO Ghonhee Lee remarked it was an ambitious mission on an aggressive timeline that was thrown together in under a year.

"We took on this high-risk, high-reward challenge and are proud of the milestones we reached along the way, " Lee remarked in an official note. "We have already learned a tremendous amount." Start your day with all you need to know. Morning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.

Introduced in 2004, Swift's science instruments were turned off earlier this year to slow its descent. It was orbiting 214 miles (345 kilometers) high as of Wednesday. Katalyst had hoped to lift the telescope back to its original orbit of 373 miles (600 kilometers), allowing for plenty of more years of cosmic observations.

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope could benefit from an orbital boost and had been next in line for a rescue attempt had this mission gone well. The 36-year-old Hubble is additionally dropping in orbit as of all the sun's recent outbursts. It wasn't immediately known whether Hubble is now out of luck.

In short, mission to save NASA's aging Swift space telescope called off after rescue is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.