Katalyst Space has spelled out how it intends to recover its spinning LINK servicing spacecraft and still complete the orbit-boost mission it was built for, with the company now expecting to move toward NASA’s Swift observatory around the end of August. The plan pairs repeated burns of an electric thruster with a rebuilt attitude controller, developed alongside NASA, that would fly in a configuration the spacecraft was never designed for.
LINK is a refrigerator-sized robotic satellite that launched on July 3 aboard a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket air-launched from Kwajalein Atoll, built in under a year under a NASA contract valued by Ars Technica at about $30 million. Its job is to rendezvous with, capture, and boost the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, a gamma-ray observatory the article values at roughly $500 million, before the aging spacecraft’s orbit decays too far. Katalyst’s mission page lists LINK at about 512 kilometers (318 miles) altitude and Swift at about 302 kilometers (188 miles), and the company describes the boost as a first-of-its-kind commercial servicing attempt. Ars Technica notes the arrangement is the first time NASA has contracted a commercial company to service one of its satellites.
The trouble began during commissioning. Katalyst reported that over 72 hours the spacecraft entered a multi-axis spin that caused a temporary loss of communications and a bus reset, and Ars Technica describes more than 24 hours without contact. Two of LINK’s three reaction wheels are currently inoperable, a consequence Katalyst attributes to an issue in the upstream bus electrical power system, and the spacecraft has partial cold-gas thruster functionality. The company says electric propulsion, robotics, rendezvous sensors, power, and both S-band and L-band communications remain healthy.
The recovery has two parallel tracks. The first is stopping the rotation: a series of burns using a Hall effect thruster on a two-axis gimbal has cut the spin rate from about 9 degrees per second to about 4 degrees per second, with Katalyst saying the remaining rates should fall over the next set of burns. Ars Technica notes the spin was roughly halved as of July 31 and explains the process is gradual because electric propulsion is efficient but low-thrust.
The second track is reworking the control system. Katalyst is working with NASA to develop a new attitude controller for LINK’s current configuration, which the company says involves remapping the available actuators, retuning the control algorithms, and validating the updated controller in simulation before it is activated on orbit. Ars Technica reports that the fallback orientation mode relies on the single remaining reaction wheel plus the thrusters, and that the team may eventually attempt to recover the two inoperable wheels. The company’s chief executive, Ghonhee Lee, told Ars Technica the mode is not the one the spacecraft was expected to be controlled with.
Once the spacecraft is stable, the plan proceeds through a defined sequence: update the guidance, navigation, and control schemes to match the current configuration; verify and validate the updated control software with end-to-end simulation and ground testing; maneuver to a co-elliptical orbit with Swift; inspect Swift from a close approach of a few dozen meters; and attempt capture, pending spacecraft health and safety. Two onboard cameras are to be used to check LINK itself for damage before proceeding.
The recovery has already delayed the mission. NASA’s blog on July 31 confirms the spin reduction and says LINK is now expected to approach Swift around the end of August, with the agency evaluating revised approaches together with Katalyst. Ars Technica cautions the rescue window is limited to a few months before Swift drops too low for the boost to be feasible. Lee told the outlet that the company believes an attempted capture of Swift is very much in the cards, while noting that a formal assessment has not been made.
Sources
1. NASA Science, “Commissioning Update for Spacecraft to Boost NASA’s Swift”: https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/swift/2026/07/28/commissioning-update-for-spacecraft-to-boost-nasas-swift/
2. NASA Science, “Efforts Continue to Stabilize LINK Spacecraft for NASA’s Swift Boost”: https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/swift/2026/07/31/efforts-continue-to-stabilize-link-spacecraft-for-nasas-swift-boost/
3. Katalyst Space, “Link mission”: https://www.katalystspace.com/mission/link
4. Ars Technica, “Here’s how engineers plan to save the satellite sent to save NASA’s Swift mission”: https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/08/heres-how-engineers-plan-to-save-the-satellite-sent-to-save-nasas-swift-mission