# 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.
- Title: NASA Swift Telescope Burns Up After Failed Rescue | Shortify
- Summary: 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…
- Keywords: nasa, swift telescope, link spacecraft, reentry, spacecraft rescue, orbit, propellant, reaction wheels, space debris, satellite repair, The Conversation
- Source: The Conversation — https://theconversation.com/nasas-swift-telescope-has-burned-up-months-after-a-robot-sent-to-save-it-failed-heres-why-its-so-hard-to-boost-a-satellite-295538
- Author: Wanjiku Chebet Kanjumba
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: nasa, swift telescope, link spacecraft, reentry, spacecraft rescue, orbit, propellant, reaction wheels, space debris, satellite repair, science, ideas
## 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.
## Key takeaway

NASA's Swift telescope burned up in November 2026 after a robotic rescue mission failed to save it from reentry.