Navigation Drawer
close
Search
Light System Dark
-
Tech
-
Reviews
-
Science
-
Entertainment
-
AI
-
Policy
-
Gadgets
-
Verge Shopping
-
Gaming
-
Streaming
-
Transportation
-
Verge Video
-
Podcasts
NASA launched an emergency mission to stop the Swift Observatory from crashing to Earth
Comments Drawer
Comments
- Science Science Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
Follow See All Science
- News News Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
Follow See All News
- Space Space Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
Follow See All Space
NASA launched an emergency mission to stop the Swift Observatory from crashing to Earth
The mission came together in just nine months.
The mission came together in just nine months.
by Terrence O'Brien
Terrence O'Brien
Weekend Editor
Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
Follow See All by Terrence O'Brien
Jul 4, 2026, 7:06 PM UTC
Engineers from Katalyst Space Technologies testing Link.
Image: NASA/Scott Wiessinger
Terrence O'Brien
Terrence O'Brien
Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
Follow See All by Terrence O'Brien
is the Verge’s weekend editor. He’s covered the tech industry for over 18 years and knows a thing or two about synths.
The Swift Observatory was launched in 2004, but recent solar storms have pushed its orbit lower, and it’s in danger of burning up in Earth’s atmosphere as soon as this year. To try and stave off its demise, NASA has enlisted Katalyst Space Technologies. The company’s Link spacecraft launched Friday with the goal of intercepting Swift, which has no propulsion system, and boosting its orbit back to its original position. Right now, Swift is circling at an altitude of 224 miles, and Link is aiming to raise that by about 150 miles.
Using a three-armed spacecraft to lift a satellite 150 miles higher into orbit is challenging enough, but the speed with which Katalyst pulled the mission together makes it even more impressive. NASA required the company to rush the job because Swift would be too low to save by October. $30 million and nine months later, help is on the way for the $500 million Swift.
The Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory primarily studies gamma-ray bursts, which have been crucial to understanding the early days of the universe.
Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.
- Terrence O'Brien Terrence O'Brien Weekend Editor
Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
Follow See All by Terrence O'Brien
- News News Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
Follow See All News
- Science Science Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
Follow See All Science
- Space Space Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
Follow See All Space
Most Popular
Most Popular
- Apple TV is hitting its stride
- Qi fan fan
- Sony’s PlayStation disc factory is already being repurposed
- I finally got my Trump phone
- Hey number pad lovers, this is a keyboard we can finally agree on
The Verge Daily
A free daily digest of the news that matters most.
Email (required)
Sign Up
By submitting your email, you agree to ourTerms and Privacy Notice. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the GooglePrivacy PolicyandTerms of Serviceapply.
Advertiser Content From This is the title for the native ad
More in Science
Hydration isn’t complicated: Just drink water
Anthropic wants to develop its own drugs
A behind-the-scenes look at Midjourney’s medical scanner leaves many questions unanswered
Amazon has enough satellites to launch its Starlink competitor
Elon Musk denies a report about SpaceX’s AI phone prototype
What is a quantum computer good for? Absolutely nothing — yet
Hydration isn’t complicated: Just drink water
Victoria Song Jul 370
Anthropic wants to develop its own drugs
Robert Hart Jul 319
A behind-the-scenes look at Midjourney’s medical scanner leaves many questions unanswered
Robert Hart Jul 36
Amazon has enough satellites to launch its Starlink competitor
Thomas Ricker Jul 218
Elon Musk denies a report about SpaceX’s AI phone prototype
Emma Roth Jul 115
What is a quantum computer good for? Absolutely nothing — yet
Sophia Chen Jun 3045
Advertiser Content From This is the title for the native ad
Top Stories
Jul 4
The fanfiction community is at war with AI — and itself
Jul 4
Jul 4
Flatbush Zombies’ Erick the Architect misses his BlackBerry keyboard
Jul 4
The square-ish phone that I wanted to love
Jul 4
Hey number pad lovers, this is a keyboard we can finally agree on
-
Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Data
© 2026Vox Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved
Notifications Drawer
Sign in to see your notifications or create an account to join the conversation.
Opt-Out Request Honored
Privacy Center
When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.
Cookie Policy Vendor List
Allow All
Manage Consent Preferences
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Essential
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.
-
Functional Cookies
Essential
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then some or all of these services may not function properly.
-
Performance Cookies
Essential
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance.
View Vendor Details
Allow the Sale or Sharing/Targeted Advertising
- Allow the Sale or Sharing/Targeted Advertising
As a valued user, we are providing you the ability to opt-out from the sharing of your personal information to advertisers and social media companies at any time across business platform, services, businesses and devices. You can opt-out of the sharing of your personal information by using this toggle switch. For more information on your rights and options see our privacy notice.
-
Social Media & Embedded Content
- Switch Label
Content embedded on our sites (e.g. social media posts, video clips, polls and games) originates from third party sources such as social media platforms, video sharing sites, or other third party websites. When this content loads on pages you visit, any cookies or similar tracking technologies set by the third party source in connection with that content may also load. Vox Media doesn't set these cookies and doesn't control them. These cookies may be capable of tracking your browser across sites and/or building a profile of your interests. Not allowing these cookies will impact what content you can see and engage with on our sites.
-
Targeting Cookies
- Switch Label
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
View Vendor Details
Vendors List
Clear
-
- checkbox label label
Apply Cancel
Consent Leg.Interest
-
checkbox label label
-
checkbox label label
-
checkbox label label
Confirm My Choices