A bold satellite rescue mission came together in record time, but will it work?

NASA awarded Katalyst Space Technologies a $30 million contract in September to build and launch a satellite capable of rescuing the $500 million Swift astronomy mission. The mission, which began in August of last year when NASA solicited proposals, aims to prevent Swift from crashing back to Earth by boosting its orbit. Katalyst, a startup founded in 2020, proposed a solution that NASA's astrophysics division director, Shawn Domagal-Goldman, deemed "technically and programmatically plausible." The rescue plan involves Katalyst's Link servicing spacecraft latching onto Swift with three robotic arms and then elevating its orbit to a safe operating altitude. This ambitious project was conceived and contracted in less than a year, a remarkably short timeframe for such a novel undertaking.