From The Conversation · Wanjiku Chebet Kanjumba · · 1m 20s
NASA Swift Telescope Burns Up After Failed Rescue
NASA's Swift telescope reentered Earth's atmosphere in November 2026 after a rescue mission failed to boost it into a safer orbit.
In brief
NASA's Swift telescope reentered Earth's atmosphere in November 2026 after a rescue mission failed to boost it into a safer orbit. NASA's Swift telescope burned up in November 2026 after a robotic rescue mission failed to save it from reentry. Originally reported by The Conversation.
Swift Telescope Ends Mission
NASA ended Swift's mission on Oct 20, 2026, after it sank to 171 miles above Earth due to atmospheric drag.
Failed Rescue Mission
LINK, a robotic spacecraft sent to save Swift, reentered Earth's atmosphere in September 2026 after failing to boost the telescope.
Rescue Plan Fails
LINK lost two reaction wheels in July 2026, causing it to spin uncontrollably and burn through propellant.
Fuel Budget Problem
LINK had insufficient propellant to capture Swift after engineers reduced its spin from nine to one and a half degrees per second.
Speed Trade-Offs
NASA awarded Katalyst a $30 million contract in September 2025 for LINK, which launched in July 2026 after a compressed schedule.
Swift Reentered
Swift reentered Earth's atmosphere on Nov 4, 2026, over North Sumatra, Indonesia, and largely burned up.
Future Rescue Plans
Future missions aim to capture satellites without docking plates, like Astroscale's ELSA-M and ClearSpace-1.
What Comes Next
Hubble Space Telescope could use a similar boost mission if Swift's rescue had succeeded.
The one thing
NASA's Swift telescope burned up in November 2026 after a robotic rescue mission failed to save it from reentry.
