Pegasus Launch Set to Deploy Servicer Mission to Enhance NASA’s Swift Observatory

This weekend, a Northrop Grumman Pegasus rocket is ready to launch a servicing spacecraft in a mission to reboost NASA’s Swift Observatory earlier than it re-enters Earth’s environment. 

Pegasus will launch Katalyst Space’s LINK robotic servicing spacecraft, which is able to rendezvous with Swift and increase the observatory to a better altitude. 

If profitable, this mission would be the first time a business robotic spacecraft captures a authorities satellite tv for pc that’s uncrewed, or not initially designed to be serviced in area, NASA stated. 

NASA awarded Katalyst the $30 million contract lower than a yr in the past, in September 2025, in a bid to “race against the clock” and advance business servicing know-how. 

“What the Katalyst team has accomplished in just eight months is extraordinary,” stated Ghonhee Lee, CEO of Katalyst Space. “The team designed, built, tested, and integrated a robotic spacecraft capable of performing one of the most ambitious commercial servicing missions ever attempted.”

The NASA Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory launched in 2004 and leads NASA’s fleet of telescopes in finding out adjustments within the high-energy universe, like gamma-ray bursts. The observatory’s Low Earth Orbit is decaying quickly due to elevated photo voltaic exercise.

The Pegasus XL rocket is an air-launched rocket that’s launched from the Stargazer L-1011 service plane. It was hooked up to the Stargazer plane at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia on Friday, June 12. It is ready to launch from Kwajalein Atoll within the Marshall Islands, focused for June 27. 

This would be the first flight of Pegasus since 2021 and is the final deliberate flight for the rocket. Pegasus has launched greater than 45 instances since 1990, however has solely had three missions within the final 10 years.  

Northrop Grumman stated in a press release that Pegasus was “deemed the only system able to meet all orbit, timeline, and budget requirements.” 

“Pegasus has been instrumental in launching science satellites over the years, and doing this as a rapid response mission from Kwajalein Atoll truly highlights what Pegasus can do: quick assembly, testing, and global repositioning,” Steve Hollo, Northrop Grumman’s chief engineer of Pegasus, stated in a press release. “The latest mission features a complete avionics upgrade to modernize the rocket while carrying forward decades of technological heritage. Plus, not being tied to a single launch site gives us incredible flexibility and responsiveness that few other vehicles can match.”