When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission.Artist’s illustration of NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory orbiting Earth. | Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image LabIt’s getting to be crunch time for a groundbreaking satellite-rescue mission.A private spacecraft called “Link” is set to lift off late next month to meet up with NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, which launched to low Earth orbit (LEO) in 2004 to hunt for powerful space explosions known as gamma-ray bursts.AdvertisementAdvertisementSwift is still working just fine. But atmospheric drag is pulling it down at an ever-increasing rate, and the telescope is powerless to resist; it doesn’t have a propulsion system. Link will be the scope’s savior, if all goes to plan, meeting up with Swift in LEO and boosting it to a higher altitude.Engineers from Katalyst stabilize their LINK robotic servicing spacecraft as it moves into a vibration chamber at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center on April 15, 2026. | Credit: NASA/Scott WiessingerThis plan is bold and unprecedented. Link, built by Arizona-based Katalyst Space Technologies, aims to become the first private spacecraft ever to capture a robotic satellite operated by the U.S. government.Doing so will not be easy, especially since it’s unclear where exactly Swift will be in the coming months. That’s because …
