Defunct NASA Swift Telescope Set to Reenter Atmosphere, Korea Unlikely to Be Impacted
The Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory is expected to reenter Earth’s atmosphere on Wednesday evening, with most of it burning up and any remaining debris likely to fall into the ocean, according to Korean space officials.
South Korea’s space agency said the decommissioned NASA Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory is slated to reenter Earth’s atmosphere on Wednesday around 8:46 p.m., with a two-hour margin of error. The 1.5-ton telescope, launched in 2004, spent 22 years studying high-energy gamma-ray bursts before being retired after a failed attempt in July to boost its orbit using a private satellite. KASA, citing analysis by the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, indicated that the majority of the spacecraft will vaporize during reentry, and any surviving fragments are expected to land in the ocean rather than on the Korean Peninsula. The agency will continue to track the telescope’s trajectory as it descends.