For more than two decades, NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory has acted as one of astronomy’s fastest responders, detecting powerful cosmic explosions and alerting telescopes around the world to investigate them further. But after years in orbit, the spacecraft is now facing an unexpected threat from Earth itself.

Startup Katalyst Space is teaming up with NASA to try and rescue the Swift telescope using the company’s newly developed robotic spacecraft, LINK.

For more than two decades, NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory has acted as one of astronomy's fastest cosmic first responders. The space telescope has detected thousands of…