NASA Ends Effort to Save Swift Observatory as Re-entry Approaches
NASA has halted attempts to raise the orbit of the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, which completed its final observation on Oct. 20 and is expected to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere within weeks.
NASA announced that the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory performed its last observation on Oct. 20 and will likely re-enter Earth’s atmosphere in the coming weeks as its orbit has decayed to less than 171 miles above the planet. The space telescope, launched on Nov. 20, 2004, was originally built for a two-year mission but operated for more than a decade, detecting over 2,000 gamma-ray bursts, 1,400 supernovae and numerous other high-energy events.
"Swift delivered an incredible, lasting return on investment for the nation, designed for a two-year primary mission but productive for more than 10 times as long," said Shawn Domagal-Goldman, director of the Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters. He added that the observatory’s data have supported roughly 7,000 scientific papers and will continue to enable research for years.
Mission officials noted that Swift’s rapid response capability—locating gamma-ray bursts and directing its telescopes within about a minute—revolutionized the study of transient cosmic phenomena. The observatory’s archive includes nearly 22 years of brightness measurements, multi-wavelength spectra and more than 1.5 million ultraviolet/optical images.
NASA has formally ended its altitude-adjustment program after acknowledging that the spacecraft could not be raised to a sustainable orbit, marking the conclusion of the mission’s operational phase.