What is measured is an attitude state
NASA reported on 6 August that the multi-axis spin of Katalyst Space's robotic vehicle LINK had been brought down from about 9 degrees per second to about 1.47 degrees per second. The slowdown came from a series of burns with one of the vehicle's electric propulsion thrusters. According to the agency's statement, that spin had made communications sporadic and had impeded LINK's progress toward the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory.[1]
This is a repair attempt carried out in space, on an observatory already at work. What is being measured is the servicing vehicle's own control state; no transfer toward Swift's orbit has yet been announced. The distinction matters, because the value of a servicing mission is measured in observing time gained, and no observing time has been gained so far. The statement attributes the communication gaps to the spin, and slowing it should make the link steadier. Those same gaps could also arise from antenna pointing geometry or ground-station scheduling, in which case the slowdown will not improve the link as much as expected.[1]
The next step sits in software
Katalyst plans to hold LINK at that spin rate through the next steps. In the coming days a flight software load will be uploaded, carrying new attitude controllers designed to maintain the vehicle's stability in its current configuration. According to NASA, that update would allow LINK to begin maneuvering to align with Swift's orbit.[1]
If the software is uploaded and the new controllers hold attitude, the signal to watch is plain: NASA announcing on its own Swift blog that an orbit-alignment maneuver has begun. Until that announcement arrives, what we hold is a vehicle's axis rather than an observatory's lifetime. On-orbit repair earns its value to the degree that it becomes a reusable skill rather than a run of individual rescues, and this mission is one of the first public tests of that skill.[1]