The commercial Swift Boost mission, launched by NASA in collaboration with the company Katalyst Space, ended without successfully raising the orbit of the Neil Gehrels Swift space telescope, NASA announced on Thursday, September 28.
This telescope, launched in 2004 to study gamma-ray bursts, was to have its orbit raised to avoid atmospheric reentry expected by the end of 2026. Despite the failure to raise the orbit, Shawn Domagal-Goldman, director of the astrophysics division at NASA, emphasized that the mission, although risky, provided valuable experience for future maintenance operations and life extension of satellites in low Earth orbit.
The mission was awarded in September 2025 to Katalyst Space, which had about a year to design, build, test, and launch a robotic satellite capable of intercepting and raising Swift. The LINK satellite was launched in July 2026 from the Kwajalein Atoll aboard a Pegasus XL rocket.
NASA highlights the lessons learned from this operation, particularly regarding American space servicing technologies, management of very short mission timelines, and innovative satellite operations.
