On 24 September, NASA awarded Flagstaff-based Katalyst Space Technologies a $30 million contract to rendezvous with, capture and push the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory into a higher orbit—buying the celebrated astrophysics mission more years of life. If successful in spring 2026, it will be the first time a commercial robot has captured a government satellite that wasn’t designed for servicing. The decision is about far more than saving a telescope: it rewrites how America buys, insures, regulates, and defends on-orbit capability.
The headline move: rapid procurement for a rapid problem
Swift—launched in 2004 without propulsion—has been slipping lower thanks to heightened solar activity that thickens the upper atmosphere.
