NASA’s Swift rescue satellite loses 2 of 3 reaction wheels

The Link satellite, a first-of-its-kind commercial spacecraft built to rescue NASA's Swift gamma-ray telescope from a destructive reentry, has encountered critical attitude control problems nearly a month after its launch, NASA announced on July 28, 2026. Over the weekend, the satellite began spinning and communicating only sporadically due to failures in its attitude control system. Preliminary investigation reveals that two of Link's three reaction wheels are currently inoperable, and its cold gas thruster system has suffered some loss of functionality. The mission, developed by Katalyst Space Technologies, was intended to dock with and extend the life of the Swift observatory, which faces a fiery atmospheric reentry without intervention. The anomaly jeopardizes this rescue plan and raises concerns about the reliability of small commercial satellites for complex orbital servicing tasks. NASA and Katalyst are now analyzing the malfunctions to determine if recovery is possible, but no timeline for a fix has been provided. The incident underscores the challenges of in-space servicing and may impact future partnerships between the agency and emerging commercial space firms.