Katalyst Space's Link spacecraft burned up in Earth's atmosphere on September 25, ending a failed $30 million effort to rescue NASA's ageing Swift Observatory.

The three-armed Link vehicle was meant to dock with the 22-year-old Swift telescope and boost it to a higher orbit. But the mission was called off in August after valve and spin faults left the spacecraft without enough fuel to complete the job.

Swift itself is now expected to reenter the atmosphere in early November, ending a long mission that has studied gamma-ray bursts and other violent cosmic events since 2004.

The failed rescue highlights the challenge of servicing old satellites. Commercial companies are developing new technologies to extend the life of spacecraft, but this attempt shows how much can go wrong in orbit.

Swift has detected more than 1,600 gamma-ray bursts during its mission. Astronomers said its data archive will remain valuable for research for years to come. NASA is now relying on newer missions to continue watching the high-energy sky.