WASHINGTON, August 20 (WAM) – NASA and Catalyst Space Technologies announced on Wednesday the cancellation of a mission to rescue the Neil Gehrels Swift telescope after the Link rescue vehicle suffered malfunctions in its control and guidance systems that prevented it from completing the process of capturing and lifting the telescope to a higher orbit.

NASA had entered into a contract worth around $30 million with the startup company to send Link to rescue the telescope, which was launched in 2004 and is one of the most prominent space observatories for monitoring gamma-ray bursts and exploding stars.

The telescope faces an inevitable fall into Earth's atmosphere later this year after it began losing altitude at an accelerating rate due to intense solar activity.

NASA officials said that the company will continue operating the vehicle near the telescope to test future technologies for rescuing satellites.

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