30/06/2026 16:53 - Tecnologia
NASA is accelerating an unprecedented rescue mission to prevent the Swift space telescope from falling back to Earth and extend its scientific life through an orbital maneuver that could begin this week. The gamma-ray observatory, weighing 1.4 tons and orbiting at approximately 360 kilometers altitude, is losing height faster due to recent intense solar activity.
The agency has already shut down all scientific instruments to slow the descent, and observations were halted in February 2026. According to the most recent estimates, the critical point is expected to be reached in October: if it drops below 300 kilometers, it cannot be recovered.
The Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory (formerly called Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Explorer) is a space telescope launched on November 20, 2004. It was named in honor of astrophysicist Neil Gehrels, who was principal investigator of the mission until his death in 2017.
Swift was designed to detect and study gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), the most energetic events in the universe. The observatory has three main instruments:
It has detected more than 1,400 gamma-ray bursts since launch, and its ability to rapidly pivot toward targets of interest makes it NASA's "astronomical first responder" for urgent cosmic events.
The mission will be carried out by Link, an autonomous robotic vehicle built by Katalyst Space Technologies with the following specifications:
| Size | Approximately a small refrigerator |
|---|---|
| Solar wingspan | 12 meters |
| Robotic arms | 3 arms with Lego-type grippers |
| Reach | More than 1 meter |
Launch is scheduled from a reef in the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean, aboard a Pegasus rocket launched from an aircraft. After liftoff, the spacecraft will take about one month to rendezvous with Swift and capture it, and another two months to raise its orbit to 600 kilometers.
NASA considers the effort justified because losing Swift would mean giving up a capability that cannot be replaced today with another new observatory. NASA's head of science missions, Nicky Fox, explained: "If we let Swift reenter, we would lose that telescope. We would lose a lot of capability. We currently don't have the budget to build another one to replace it."
NASA's director of astrophysics, Shawn Domagal-Goldman, acknowledged that the project seemed unlikely from the start: "I have to be honest. No one thought it was going to be possible. No one thought we would get as far as we have today."
The need to preserve it also grows due to the volume of discoveries expected from the James Webb telescope and the future Roman telescope. If Swift survives, it could have more work than ever as a complementary instrument to follow up those discoveries.
If the operation is successful, the observatory could be operational again by September, according to Ghonhee Lee, CEO of Katalyst. It would be the first such maneuver performed by a US space robot.
Lee emphasized: "This is the first US space robot that will go up and do something like this. NASA has all these veteran great observatories... they can all benefit from a service like this. What we're demonstrating with this mission is that this is a new play available in the playbook."
The same logic already applies to the Hubble telescope, which is also losing altitude due to successive solar eruptions. A next-generation version of Katalyst's robot could attempt a similar mission with that telescope within a couple of years. Hubble, with 36 years of operation, has already received repeated servicing by astronauts during the space shuttle era.
The company plans to launch another robot next year capable of working with satellites located up to 35,800 kilometers in altitude, with the idea of expanding an orbital business dedicated to repairing, raising, refueling and building platforms in space.
Source: Infobae - June 28, 2026
Alfredo S. Quiroga
