NASA's Swift telescope falls to Earth after 22 years in space
The 1.5-tonne Swift Observatory re-entered Earth's atmosphere over Sumatra after solar activity deteriorated its orbit.
NASA's Swift Observatory, which spent more than two decades studying cosmic explosions, plunged into the atmosphere near Sumatra in Indonesia on November 4. The telescope was about the size of a minibus and weighed 1.5 tonnes.
Solar storms over recent years had pulled it into a decaying orbit that the space agency could not fix. Earlier this year, NASA hired private company Katalyst Space to boost Swift back into orbit, but the craft ran into trouble during its July launch and came crashing down in September.
NASA does not yet know how much of Swift burned up on re-entry, though it expects some denser pieces survived. The telescope observed thousands of gamma-ray bursts and exploding stars over a mission that lasted 11 times longer than its original two-year plan.
- 1.5 tonnes
- Mass
- 22
- Years in orbit
- 11 times longer
- Mission duration vs plan
- Near Sumatra, Indonesia
- Re-entry location
Why it mattersSwift's loss means fewer eyes watching for cosmic explosions. NASA is now deciding whether to attempt similar rescues for the Hubble Space Telescope, whose re-entry is expected in the mid-2030s.
AustraliaNo direct Australian impact yet, though the re-entry debris fell near Indonesian territory, and Australian astronomers used Swift's data for decades of research.
✓ Claims checked against the source and corrected before publish. checked 4 h ago
