NASA's Swift Observatory Falls Back to Earth After Failed Rescue Mission
Written by AI from engadget.com's report. Not checked by a person.
NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory is predicted to re-enter Earth's atmosphere around 3:30 AM Eastern on November 4, roughly 22 years after its launch. An earlier attempt to rescue the decaying spacecraft failed when the robotic craft sent to boost its orbit lost control.
NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory is set to re-enter Earth's atmosphere around 3:30 AM Eastern on November 4, according to US Armed Forces predictions. Forecasters caution that the estimate carries an uncertainty of 11 hours. The 3,200-pound telescope has been in orbit for 22 years, but its orbit was decaying too fast to sustain operations.
In early July, NASA launched the Swift Boost mission in hopes of extending the observatory's life. The plan called for Katalyst Space's LINK robotic spacecraft to dock with Swift and tug it to a higher orbit. LINK quickly ran into attitude control problems, leaving it unable to maintain its orientation and spinning helplessly, which also caused communication failures. A couple of weeks after those problems began, NASA decided to end the rescue mission.
With no path to saving the observatory, NASA placed Swift in safe mode in late October and prepared it for re-entry. Over its operational lifetime, Swift had observed more than 2,000 gamma-ray bursts — the most powerful explosions in the universe, reaching peak brightness in less than two seconds — along with 1,400 supernova explosions, asteroids, comets, and stars shredded by black holes.
NASA expects most of the spacecraft to burn up during atmospheric re-entry, though some components may survive and reach the ground. The agency says there is very little risk of any surviving fragment harming anyone. Both NASA and the Armed Forces are monitoring the falling observatory and will issue updated predictions as needed.
