NASA Abandons Plan to Rescue Swift Observatory from Orbital Decay

NASA and Katalyst Space have called off efforts to save the Swift Observatory satellite from re-entering Earth's atmosphere. The Link spacecraft, originally tasked with capturing and boosting Swift to a higher orbit, will no longer attempt the rescue due to an ongoing attitude control issue. Instead, Link will perform rendezvous and proximity operations near the telescope to gather data useful for future missions. NASA astrophysics director Shawn Domagal-Goldman acknowledged the mission was always high-risk and developed on an unusually tight timeline driven by solar activity cycles.